Kingdom Hearts: Legend of the White Knight
by Gilamonsterx
Summary: On the horizon, a new enemy has appeared. Every opponent Sora has faced was tough, but this new enemy posseses the power of Light and all of its unique and bold characterisitics. How will Sora be able to fight this new enemy?
1. Prologue

_Kingdom Hearts: Legend of the White Knight_

_Prologue_

It was raining on the quiet streets of the "World That Never Was". Roxas had just recently left Organization XIII and Axel was rushing on his way to find him while searching every nook and cranny for him. Roxas felt a cold chill in the air and an eerie feeling in his gut. He knew he was being followed. He turned to his left at the corner and then right and right back around to Main St. hoping he lost his pursuer. How wrong he had been. He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see nothing but rain in his face and a road covered in precipitation. "Listen, I don't know who you are or what you think you're doing, but I'm only saying this once. Stop stalking me!!" Roxas didn't hear anything back and continued walking away.

Then a voice boomed out of nowhere. "Stalking is such a strong word, my little friend. I'd prefer it as 'tagging along'." Then in front of Roxas came a man in a white hooded suit quite similar to that of Organization XIII. He pulled back his hood to reveal a young, baby-faced teen boy with brown eyes and chestnut brown hair and was also the same height as Roxas. He also had a nice smile which made him seem harmless and innocent. But the eyebrows pointed slightly downward could easily give him away, but the average man would never notice it. "What's your deal mister? You scare the living daylights out of me and expect me to be so calm just because of your little puppy dog face routine. You're a really bad actor!!" The boy walked closer to Roxas until he came close to his eyes and nose.

Roxas then turned a little red at his cheeks. "Very interesting, you have good posture. The guy I'm looking for always slouches when he's tired." Then the boy paced and walked around Roxas noticing his physical features along the way. "Let's see, you have the right height as well as the right eye colour and all. You're hair though is fair like some of the girls though on my planet." Roxas was looking at him with a very confused, yet curious look on his face. "What in the world are you talking about?" The boy stopped pacing and stepped towards Roxas again. "You shouldn't be too confused by now; you look just like him for gosh sakes… Roxas!!" Roxas then perked up his chin in surprise and stepped back. He then called the keyblades to him. "Okay punk. Tell me how you knew my name. Lucky guess or are you trying to pick a fight?"

The boy shook his head while whispering 'tsk-tsk-tsk' three times. "That's right. Fight and fight until you're tired and weak and can't anymore. Yet you still are as naïve as he is and quick to react when provoked." Roxas stood his ground staring straight into the boy's brown eyes. "Tell you what. Why don't we just have a little sparring match? I win, you tell me where my target is. You win, I'll get out of your sight and disappear quicker faster than a locomotive inside a tunnel." Roxas nodded and said, "It's a deal!"

So then it began. Roxas ran quick to catch the kid off guard, but he moved quickly and drew out a thin sword that was transparent and had a yellowish hue to it. He slashed one of the keyblades from Roxas' hands and in a quick defense held his ground as he received an oncoming blow from the boy's sword. The boy quickly observed the keyblade. "Not a very handy weapon my friend. Or at the very least, it isn't doing well against my steel." Roxas grew madder. "I'm not your friend, got it?" Roxas tried to slice his sword, but he disappeared in a brief blinding light. Then Roxas heard a faint laugh in the background. "I can't believe you're even that kid's nobody. Xemnas and his true being Xehanort had a better chance against me than you do."

Roxas then lost the second keyblade quicker than he could to the oncoming attack. It was as though the boy was moving at the speed of light and Roxas was just twiddling his thumbs waiting for it. The boy repeatingly slashed and slashed against Roxas with ease. Even when Roxas called back his keyblades it still proved to no avail. He was tired, beat up a little bit and dehydrated. The boy stepped towards him and flung his sword so that it gently touched his neck. He raised left hand and snapped his fingers. Roxas then glowed white and was healed as fast as he had been injured.

Roxas stepped back after he pulled his sword back, got up and walked closer to the boy. "Why did you just do that? You come here for a fight, then after wiping the floor and leaving me totally weak, you just heal me? What is up with you?" The boy then gave a smile to Roxas, but this time it was a kind and sincere one. "It's my character. You only learn to better yourself when you are at a complete loss and feel that all hope is sucked away. This doesn't change a thing though. I'm still an enemy to you, the Organization, the Heart--" Roxas then gave him a mad glare.

"Well, you'll figure it out pretty soon. Well Its time for me to take off." Roxas then noticed him disappear in a blinding light and yelled "Wait, you wanted to ask me something." The boy was gone, but his voice was still there. "It's not necessary. I already know now from fighting you where he is. To think you have so much to live for on your island back home, but you don't even remember. It's such a shame." The voice disappeared as quickly as it had begun. Roxas then thought about what he said. 'The island…what island is he talking about? I've never been anywhere else except this place and Twilight Town.' Before he could ponder on about the subject he then saw Axel in the distance behind him and Axel ran as fast as could to talk with his old comrade.


	2. Chapter 1: Adventure Awaits

_Adventure Awaits_

It was a nice hot day at the beach and Sora and his friends were having the time of their lives just playing beach volleyball, tanning, and eating ice cream as well. "Oh man… nothing like some cold ice cream to cool you down, eh Riku?" Riku took a quick bite at his and swallowed. "Y-y-yeah it's great!!" Sora couldn't help but giggle a little over the fact that Riku had a little brain freeze. Meanwhile, at the Disney Castle, Mickey Mouse was just organizing some papers when he spotted something on sitting on the stack of books on top of the library desk. He opened it and read what was written on it.

"Dear Mickey,

I know I have always looked up to you growing up as a child and just remembering all the times you were being a role model to others really touches me. I too have had my share of being the hero for six to eight years straight now in my universe. It's a shame that it wasn't always like this. Anyway, I've sent this letter to tell you about some grave danger that will befall you unless something is done about it. Seeing as how Sora possesses a unique ability with the keyblade and is also the hero besides you of your universe, I'll leave it up to you. Be warned of a man in a white hooded suit. He means business and will stop at nothing to conquer your world and others one by one. I'll be sure to give you details as they may be more important than ever.

Sincerely,

_**Victor of the MVC**_

Mickey ran into his throne room to find a white hooded figure and he had Minnie Mouse captured behind his right arm. They exchanged angry looks at each other not knowing who would make the first move.

Meanwhile, Sora and the others were packing up and preparing to leave for home. The sun was setting and the air was crisp and calm like a summer's breeze. It felt heavenly and as Sora and the others went to the car they smelt a barbeque nearby grilling hamburgers and hotdogs. Such wonderful delights could not be missed. Kairi on the other hand wasn't in the mood for these games. "Hey, just where do you boys think you're going?" Sora, Tidus and Riku stopped dead in their tracks.

Sora stepped closer to Kairi. "There's good food across the street. I promise we'll back in like a couple of minutes. Please!!!" Sora pulled out the puppy dog face and as usual Kairi just couldn't resist. "Oh alright!! Just make sure you get your food and come back here." Riku looked at Sora and then back at Kairi. "What about the car? Won't it get turned into a pig buffet if we bring all of our greasy stuff in there?" Kairi didn't have much time to argue with them. "It's ok. I got to go pick up my cousin at the airport anyway and I was trying to get my car all cleaned up at the gas station's carwash so it all works out fine. Just be back here soon okay?" They all nodded and the boys ran off to get their delicious trinkets.

Kairi then looked off into the distance thinking about all the wonderful times and adventures she had with Sora and Riku. "You know what really gets me down?" Kairi looked behind her to see a boy in a white hooded suit staring right at her. "It's seeing a girl like you all alone like this with nobody to talk to." Kairi stepped back a little while being cautious. "Who are you?" The figure disappeared in light and reappeared behind Kairi. "It's not who am I, but rather who are you, my little rosebud!!" He tried to lock lips with her but Kairi pushed him away in anger. "Back off, creep!!" The boy then grabbed Kairi quick and pulled her closer. "Oooo… you're feisty and beautiful all in one package. I'm going to enjoy this!!"

Sora, Tidus, and Riku arrived with food in both hands, but then dropped them to go get Kairi when they saw all the commotion. "Hey, you leave her alone!", Sora said in an angry tone. "Oh how cute. It would seem you got yourself some good old fashioned infatuations from that kid as well. So typical and so…hey wait a second. I thought I recognized you. You must be Sora and the guy next to you with white hair must be Riku. It's very interesting indeed." Sora brought his keyblade as did Riku. "I said let her go." The boy shook his head and pulled down his hood to reveal a young teen with brown hair and eyes.

"It's kind of funny. I just have to laugh. After all this time it took to find you. Here you are in the prime of your glory. Yet you're even close to that of my stature or my brothers or relatives in general." Sora then stepped closer yet. "You have some nerve you know that. You talk trash about me and you have Kairi in your hands. Now you've just crossed the line." The boy started to laugh even more.

"You want her back, all you got to do is beat me fair and square buddy. No strings attached or nothing. Just one on one: you and me. I'll even throw you a bonus prize. I'll beg for mercy and hope you go easy on me." Sora looked confused at first, but then nodded and agreed to it. "Good good and now to make sure your friends don't get any ideas." He snapped his fingers and then a shield appeared out of behind Sora blocking off Riku and Tidus. "Don't worry guys. This guy won't know what hit him." The boy laughed even more. "Oh man. I know I didn't just hear that. Ladies and gentlemen we have ourselves a kid with guts but no brains."

Before Sora and the boy could fight, King Mickey (Mickey Mouse to those who don't play Kingdom Hearts) appeared and took out his keyblade. "I knew I'd find you here." The boy stared at the short animated mouse. "Well, well, well if it isn't King Mickey and I also see you have one too." Mickey shook his head. "It doesn't have to be this way ya know. I know what kind of feelings you've been trying to shake off. Trust me it only gets worse from there." The boy threw Kairi and took out a pink ball from her chest. "You know what it doesn't matter. I have what I came for and there's nothing you can do to stop me. Not even your so-called champions can do anything to get rid of me either so tough luck." With that he disappeared into yet another blinding light as King Mickey dropped his keyblade and dropped to his knees.

Sora brought Kairi to her feet and asked if she was okay. She nodded and everyone went to talk to Mickey about the situation. "Your Majesty, are you alright?" Sora knelt down and tried holding out his hand to pull him up on his feet. Mickey seemed as gloomy as could be. "It's too bad it had to come to this." Riku stepped forward. "What's too bad?" Mickey then brought himself to his feet and turned around to face Sora and the others. "I know who that boy was that was here a few minutes ago." Kairi got a concerned look on her face upon hearing this. "Tell us who that was. Maybe we can find some way of helping him."

Mickey closed his eyes just to think for a second and then opened them once again. "That boy that you all just saw isn't any ordinary guy at all. He possesses a power that is so pure and so very unique that no living creature could ever destroy, excluding his older brother. That boy in the white hooded suit is Victor. Victor and I used to be very close friends when he was growing up. I wish that the life he lived growing up wasn't so sad to think about though." Everyone gathered around Mickey to listen closely at his story. "When he was a small little guy probably no older than 5 or 7, his parents died of pneumonia, thus leaving him and his brothers orphaned. Since no one bother to adopt them nor did anyone no they were still alive, they had to live life together thriving on whatever scraps of food and necessities that they could find. What was also unfortunate was that they all eventually got taken in by adults, but each one of them were bent on either world domination or other means of destruction for their own world." Sora, Riku, Tidus and Kairi were sitting and listening as best as they could. That's so sad. So they all got separated from each other?", Kairi asked.

Mickey then turned around to face what was left of the sunset on the beach. "Yes, I'm afraid so. They all eventually became heroes on the other end towards the good side, but it didn't happen without a price. You see, while Victor's older brother killed his own foster dad who was pure evil and while his little brother killed an enemy of his foster dad who was also evil, Victor did the unspeakable and committed a heinous act all on his own. He in fact, killed a hero." Then everyone suddenly started talking about the situation and then Riku was the first to speak out of the group. "What's the big deal though? We've met some pretty weird characters ourselves that seem bad, but turn good at a price. What makes this guy any different?"

Mickey shook his head. "You just don't get it, do you? In every world, galaxy, or any other alternate universe, a hero is the hardest of all to kill or destroy at all. At least if you're fully experienced, except Victor did it after repeating coming back to fight him. He so beat up and so exhausted he could barely fight. People were cheering on the hero instead of him simply because he was a villain, despite his age. When Victor did manage to get rid of the hero, it started to rain that day. People started to cry and boo Victor as he ran off never to be seen again in his hometown." It was dead silent that night.

Everyone was shocked at story. It seemed so unbelievable despite its authenticity. Sora then stood up. "So I guess you can't really blame him for acting the way he did then, huh?" Mickey turned to face Sora. "No, but what really puzzles me is how Victor and his brothers got those powers in first place. His older brother has the power of true darkness, Victor has light, and his little brother has the power of the heart. Each one of them could prove to be very dangerous since those three are the most powerful beings in the entire Universe." Riku, Tidus and Kairi then stood up off the cold sand. Riku started again. "What about us or you even. The keyblades have helped us before right?" Mickey continued again. "No, not even all of us combined would do anything if leave a tiny scratch at most on them. Listen, there's no time to explain, but we have to get to Radiant Garden as fast as we can. Leon as well as Merlin might know more about Victor then I know myself."

Sora stepped forward. "Why's that?" the sun had finally set and the moon was just starting to come out. "They've been doing research on these guys and have found out about someone who left a journal on at least one of the brothers. It's all about Victor." Before Mickey could finish, a familiar sound came from the sky landing on the beach not too far from the group. It was red, huge, and it had Mickey's emblem on the back of it. The Gummi Ship had arrived.


	3. Chapter 2: Radiant Garden

**Radiant Garden**

It wasn't too long that from the Gummi Ship came a familiar sight to Sora and the others. From the ship came a white duck with a mage's staff wearing a blue shirt and hat and a dog-man with a green hat along with some old casual clothes and the royal knight's shield with the king's emblem on it as well. It was none other than Donald and Goofy. Above them on the flight deck of the ship were two little chipmunks jumping and waving at the same time. Chip and Dale were there as well to greet the King and the others with open arms. At first everyone was reluctant to either head to the ship or leave it to go and embrace each other. Sora then ran towards Donald and Goofy as well as King Mickey and Donald and Goofy ran to King Mickey and Sora as well to honour and respect the friendships they had made during their travels.

"Oh Donald, Oh Goofy, I can't believe you guys came all the way here to see us!!", Sora exclaimed as he hugged them both with a tight bear hug. "Y-Yeah w-were happy t-t-t-too S-S-Sora!! Can you l-l-let go of u-u-us now?" Both Donald and Goofy said in unison. Sora quickly let go of them and apologized for squeezing them too hard. Mickey soon stepped forward to gander at his friends of old. "I guess it's been a while since we did hang out like this. I wish the circumstances were much better than they are now. Regardless all of us must leave for Radiant Garden. Come on fellas we must make haste!!" everyone nodded and got on board as fast as they could.

It wasn't too long that everyone finally made it to Radiant Garden. The world Sora first knew as Hollow Bastion when first taking a glimpse was anything but a reality now. The world was covered in greenery, shops markets and plants as it once was before Ansem the Wise appointed his latest experiments thus creating the heartless. Radiant Garden was indeed the paradise that it was with smiles on every person's face and kindness/respect on every corner of the planet. Sora then ran as fast he could the second he spotted Leon near Merlin's house. "Man oh man, I never would've expected to see that baby-faced kid this time around!!" Sora turned a little red at his cheeks and got a little mad. "Hey who're you calling kid?" Leon couldn't help but laugh as well as everyone else when they saw what Sora was doing. Sora turned so red he looked like a cross between ripe strawberry and a cherry.

Merlin soon appeared out of house in hopes of greeting everyone there. "Okay okay settle down now please! As much as we all love a good chuckle now isn't the time to do so. Follow me inside and you'll find out why." So everyone did as they were told and went inside. Meanwhile, Victor was preparing his latest plan to test Sora's might against his superior swordsmanship and ingenuity. "Such a pity it truly is for you Maleficent. Even you in all your great power couldn't even finish off one kid, or rather hero who uses a keyblade to fight all his battles." Maleficent as well as Pete were tied up and in a prison cell expertly crafted by Victor and his powers of light. It was dark, damp and above all it smelt like cabbage oddly enough. Pete had duct tape covering his mouth, but Maleficent's mouth was free from such torment. This was probably because Victor wanted to gloat and hear her cries for mercy.

Maleficent then began to speak to the young teen. "You shouldn't underestimate your opponents you fool. I've seen you fight as well when you were no bigger than a puppy dog. You were as naïve and weak as that boy is now. Look at your power now. He could easily come to that power and will defeat you at all costs should you go through with your plans." Victor brought his sword close to Maleficent's neck as a means of a warning.

"Oh no, you are the one who is foolish. You see unlike him, my brothers and I weren't so fortunate enough to have guardians to teach us right from wrong, so thus we became more powerful than anyone else in the entire universe. Not even Superman, nor King Mickey can stand up to our power." Maleficent looked confused. "Super-who?" Victor shook his head. "Never mind that. The point I'm making is we worked day and night, sustenance or no sustenance to get to where we are today. I had the rougher part of it killing a hero. People always booed me just because I was different or much more unique. Sora my sinister woman, is not strong at all if he has to rely on a weapon of pure foolish craftsmanship and it will be his undoing to harness its power for good. My old classmate Xehanort made the same mistake when he thought that being powerful meant you were invincible or unstoppable. Soon my dear Sora and his friends will feel the full sting of the MVC and the power my brothers and I have." As he said this he looked into a holographic window portraying Sora, Riku and the others inside Merlin's house talking to him and observing his wisdom.

Sora and the others sat down and listened as closely as they could to all parts of the journal as they could. There were only thirteen sections of writing which made it similar to Ansem's Reports of yester-year. The only difference is it only focused on one main idea instead of a bunch ideas packed into one book.

"Section One: The Beginning

Oh how it must've hurt the poor boy when he had exterminated his opponent. The due fact it rained that day, made it quite ironic. People that day saw it as a bad omen for their lovely little city and foolishly cried out to the authorities to catch and punish Victor and his siblings for their supposed wrong doings.

How could such a travesty happen? Do humans not have the ability to choose between good and evil? Are they not more unique than other creatures from other worlds in choosing both sides instead of one? All of this I wish I knew. Still, I should keep an eye on Victor. Afterall, when he was created I agreed to watch over him and keep him protected. Even if it means I spend an eternity in the great abyss I am willing to take it.

The poor lad! He still knows not what true love is all about. Not even to his own parents because he was so young when they perished. Ironically, unlike Victor, I am starting to develop what his kind would call feelings for him. It's almost if it's… No! I mustn't! It would never work. He must never feel love for others. It's his greatest strength that he has. Although I can't help him from afar, maybe it's possible to help him in another way. Perhaps I need to be what he is and be born as a…"

Merlin then stopped. Everyone grew a little impatient after two minutes of waiting. They thought he was trying to catch his breath being a man of an old age. Sora stepped up on his feet. "Well? What's the last part of the sentence?" Merlin then said, "The last bit was ripped up so I don't really know." Riku then stepped up. "I think I know. That boy we saw on beach earlier yesterday was a human. So the writer must also be talking about becoming a human." The journal then glowed and the last part that was ripped became whole with a single word at the end of it. It was the word "human". Merlin examined the journal with extreme accuracy. "This is quite strange. Yes, quite strange it is indeed." Kairi then began to speak.

"What is?" Merlin put the journal down so he could face everyone. "This is no ordinary journal. It has enchantments that even I don't know about. After looking through the whole journal it seems that there are words missing in every last section of it. Obviously, it would seem that the writer wants us to figure this entire journal out as best as we can. The question to answer though is 'why'?" Leon then stood up and began to speak. "Regardless of the journal's secrets, we're going to have to solve it later. Right now we have bigger things to deal with." Sora and the others soon asked what was going on. Leon obviously had to speak to enlighten the curious teens to the predicament they were in.

"From all the research I did I can only come to one conclusion. Victor isn't like Organization XIII or the Heartless at all. He doesn't have a desire to possess Kingdom Hearts because he, along with the rest of his people, all possesses hearts. They are quite similar to Donald, Goofy, Maleficent, Pete, Mickey, and even Captain Hook or any other person in universe. There's a difference though. Unlike us, Victor and his kind as said in the journal can choose to be good or evil or light or dark."

Sora and the others had their mouths drop like anchors on a yacht during a morning voyage. Sora then started to talk. "So that means that His brothers as well Victor can be the good guys and the bad guys?" Leon nodded in agreement. "That doesn't make any sense though. They know that being bad and dark isn't a good thing for their world. Why would they choose to be bad as well?" Soon enough the group felt a cold chill in the air and the whole group as well as Merlin and Leon focused on the odd phenomena. "It is because his race knows not what they do in life affects others. His race is always tempted by creature comforts and treasures beyond their wildest dreams. They never realize it until it's too late."

Sora and the others got a cold chill down their spines and turned as pale as ghosts when they saw a human figure appear inside the building. It was a young teenage girl. She had blue eyes, hair as red as a beautiful sunset near a calm meadow, as well as lips that were as pink as a Valentine's Day cutout heart and so inviting it would make any guy melt just by looking them. The only thing she wore that would make her seem less innocent and more tough was the fact that she wore a black shirt and army pants and boots. Sora and Riku of course started drooling over the girl along with Tidus and Leon, despite the clothing she wore, while Kairi as well as Yuffie and Aerith, who just stopped by, started to get mad and turn red in anger and jealousy. The boys got knocked out for the count and had the classic bumps on their heads to show from their little gander at the girl. The girl then looked confused as to why the girls would do such a thing.

"I do hope those boys are alright." Kairi, Yuffie and Aerith gathered around the girl. "How did you do that? You made a cold chill in the air and we got scared and thought you were a ghost." The girl giggled and blushed. Soon enough, her cheeks became as red as poppy flowers in Flanders' Fields. "He thought the very same way when I first met him."

The girls then asked her what she meant and soon found out about her encounter with Victor in a dream. "It was a dark knight. Every tree around the boy was dead and the sky covered by dense clouds. The only thing that could pierce through the black sky was the moon. In the centre of this place was a garden that oddly enough wasn't affected by the lack of sunshine and bloomed ever so brightly in their glorious essence and beauty. Victor soon observed the place and it turned into a greenhouse paradise with him inside it. I then appeared and I expected him to run away, never to gaze upon my eyes or my face. He did the exact opposite. He looked so calm when he looked at me. I looked into his eyes and felt as if I could just melt. I then reached up to kiss him and he slightly stepped back trying to escape, but couldn't. I wouldn't let this opportunity of human comfort escape my grasp. So then it happened. With one kiss, I not only got a taste of his inner beauty, but I also felt true love from it. Even though it broke every law I was entrusted to obey I enjoyed every last moment of it."

The girls began to sigh and lie down. Kairi couldn't help but hug the girl, despite how Sora and Riku drooled over her. "That's so romantic. You are so lucky. So then what happened?" The girl started to cry unfortunately. "He turned into stone. 'sob' The second I kissed him he turned into a solid 'sniff-sniff' stone statue." The girls gasped a little, but let her continue after she pulled it together. "It was horrible. I disappeared, but I could still see what he was dreaming about. The greenhouse and the garden disappeared and his family appeared to see the youth turned to stone. They started to cry and mourn over their lost their little boy. He then woke up a different person."

The girl explained that from here on in, from the moment he had that dream he started to use his imagination, not for a long time, but for a short amount of time. Eventually that power would take him to new heights so that he, as well as his brothers gaining their new powers, would become the apex beings of the universe. Kairi had a tiny tear trickle down her left cheek. It was small for a tear in general, but to the girl it reminded her of that rainy day she saw the boy for the very first time.


	4. Chapter 3: The Plan

The Plan

While everyone else was listening to the mysterious girl, excluding Sora and the boys because they were still knocked out, Merlin and Leon continued to analyze the situation with Victor and every possible means of figuring out what made him tick. Leon then stumbled on to something quite weird when reading the second section of the journal. "Hey Merlin, listen to this for a second."

"Section Two: By Night One Way, By Day Another

Oh, I am such a fool. Why did I appear in that dream of his? It was as if that sweet darling face was beckoning me to come closer to him with every waking step. Those dark, mysterious eyes make me feel weak, his smile makes me feel warm and content, and his sweet, sweet lips are just so inviting…

I mustn't do this. No, they would never approve of this. I wish there was another way…unless I too become human like he is. I could feel compassion and truly be at his side whilst protecting him. They would surely not approve of this either. Most likely they'll never let me back into the kingdom ever again if I do go through with this. Although this will hurt mother, I know what I have to do…"

Leon stopped reading to take a better look at the page. "It seems that there's at least another whole sentence now that's missing." Merlin took a gander at the journal. "Well at this rate, it could be anything." The girl, who couldn't help but observe the conversation, came over to see the journal. "I think I can fill this in." Leon and Merlin were confused, but let the girl try to fill the journal. The girl took a deep breath and then began. "I must become what Victor is, flesh and blood." With that the journal magically fused a tiny piece of the page with those exact words on it. Merlin shook his head, while Leon just stared in awe. "That is not possible. Even my magic couldn't crack this journal's code. There is no way an ordinary girl would know this unless…" Leon and Merlin stared at her as well as Kairi, Aerith, Yuffie as well as Sora and the other boys when they came to and saw what happened.

The girl looked down at the ground for a second and then back up to the anxious viewers observing her. She then perked up a nice warm smile and put her arm behind her neck. "Alright I guess the cat's out of the bag huh?" Everyone was talking to each other about who this girl was and what kind of power she had. "Why don't I start from the beginning? My name is Anastasia. I was born in a world that consists of angels alone. It is world known as Ailiana. It's a paradise like none other the universe has ever witnessed before. It's also completely free from all the evils of the universe as well. That includes the heartless and the nobodies that Sora and the others found on other worlds here in this tiny galaxy. Anyway, I was assigned to be Victor's guardian, but I let my emotions get the better of me and I couldn't help, but try to get as close to him as possible. I eventually became human like him, but at a price. I could never return to my home until I learned about a thing my elders called "The Sacred Protection". I can't say anymore than that for now."

Everyone was puzzled by this and tried to ask more questions, but it didn't work. Anastasia was keen on not revealing anything more about herself or Victor. Leon then stood up. "It doesn't matter now. What we need to now is get the Gummi Ship up and running A.S.A.P. If anything, Merlin and I have found a little clue in our work as to what Victor's planning." Donald and Goofy ran outside to go and alert Chip and Dale the go ahead on starting up the ship's engine. Sora and the others all stood up rearing to go off venturing for themselves. Sora called his keyblade out just to make sure he was ready for any danger that would befall him before quickly putting it away. "So what is he planning to do anyway?" Merlin then waved his right hand and summoned a holographic version of a gigantic planet. "Behold my eager youths. This is the planet Sanshobi. It is the residence spot for our white hooded friend. Leon and I believe that he is planning on simply conquering each planet in his path and converting all of their inhabitants to become his slaves."

With that there came a few gasps as well as some whispering. Leon raised his hands to try and quiet everyone down. "Alright alright settle down. Now we all know this one won't be a piece of cake or a walk in the park. That's alright because Merlin and I figure that if we can summon up the keyblade's energy then perhaps Sora as well as Riku, Mickey and Kairi could have enough power and a chance to take him on and defeat him." The next thing everyone knew there was laughing occurring just outside the building. Sora looked around and noticed that Kairi wasn't inside the building. He also heard Kairi's scream from outside and he heard her yelling 'Help Sora!!'. He gritted his teeth and then ran outside the door as well as Riku and the others followed shortly.

There Victor was holding Kairi with his arm around her neck, but his hood covered his face. Donald and Goofy had frowns on their faces as if to say 'let her go'. Sora and the others arrived outside with him running ahead of the group to try and get Kairi back. He stopped at least three feet before Victor just flicked him to the ground.  
"You better let her go or else!!" Victor laughed even more and then pulled his hood down. His evil grin was so impossible he made everyone get frowns on their faces. Mickey ran up to where Sora stood and stared at Victor with a cold look on his face.

Flashback

Mickey was inside his throne room and noticed that the white hooded figure (Victor) had Minnie behind his right arm. He ran forward to try and rescue his damsel in distress, but noticed that the figure was preparing for attack. He just stood there. Mickey stopped in his tracks as if expecting an answer. "I just don't get it. Why would you send a letter to me warning me of a threat coming when you are the one who knew about this in the first place?" The figure pulled down his hood and there was the youthful teen with an angry frown that wasn't too noticeable, but could hardly go unmentioned either. "So how'd you know it was me? Did I end in a preposition? Or maybe I left some bread crumbs like Hansel and Gretel."

Mickey then brought the letter to him showing him the writing. "Two things caught my attention. One was the fact that you're the only one I know who was that rough kind of handwriting. Second of all, when I read the letter it seemed as though you were rushing through it. It seems like you got a lot on the go." Victor nodded in agreement while holding Minnie.

She didn't have much space, but she could still talk clearly. "Why would you want to conquer the universe though? I always saw you as a timid, misunderstood kid. Even when you tried to be bad, you never wanted to go this far." Victor's frown then turned into a cheery smile. The only thing ruining his innocence was his eyebrows pointed slightly downward. "If only I could tell you guys. If only you could know why I must do this. It's a real shame, but now I must get going. The Universe is a big place, with so many suckers just waiting to be eliminated at the hands of my authority." With that he vanished in light with Minnie and left Mickey alone in the middle of an empty room.

Present

"So then you're collecting women for you're little science project, huh?" , Sora asked in a mad tone. Victor waved his right index finger in the air and grinned a little bit. "I'd call it more of an experiment. A great master plan always has master details that must be filled. Pity though that you guys won't be able to stop me." He snapped his fingers and the Gummi Ship got surrounded in a ring of light. It closed in on the aircraft and destroyed it in seconds. Luckily, Chip and Dale got out of it just in time. Yet Victor was still laughing while everyone was glaring and giving him a mad stare. "Oh please, you don't think I'm that naïve do you. As for the journal … well by now every last page has been scattered throughout the universe. Now let's see you try to get out of this little spot." He laughed a little and disappeared in a blinding light with Kairi struggling to try and free herself.

Sora tried to jump and rescue her, but ended up in failure. He punched the ground with his fist in anger while the group ran ahead to comfort the poor boy. Anastasia soon appeared outside as well. A tiny tear trickled down Sora's face. "It's all my fault. If I had just kept a better eye on Kairi and hadn't been goo-goo eyeing Anastasia, she'd still be with us." Riku held Sora close and gave him a hug. "It's alright man. We'll get her back." Mickey stared up at the sky. "The only one to blame for this is Victor. I don't know why I'm thinking this, but I don't think Victor is purposely trying to take over the universe." Everyone stared at Mickey and Sora asked, "What makes you so sure of that?"

Anastasia walked towards Sora until she was only a few inches away from him. "It's because the King and I both know Victor a lot better than this. He wouldn't do this even if he had all the means to do so. He told me himself, he wouldn't want anything bad to ever put on his shoulders, despite how unfairly treated he was as a child." Everyone had to nod in agreement, although it did look pretty grim for the moment. Leon then looked at the journal cover. "It's too bad. Unfortunately, that doesn't explain how we're going to travel from world to world though. That Gummi Ship was a fine piece of craftsmanship in the making. Without that we're sitting ducks here."

Anastasia shook her head. "Don't bet on it. I may be a human, but I still am a resident of Ailiana. My people and I have the power to create gates to different alternate dimensions and worlds as well as galaxies. If I am given the right element I can muster up enough strength and energy to create gates." Merlin stepped forward beside Leon. "How do we know though that Victor won't catch on though, if he doesn't know by now, that is?" Anastasia giggled a little bit. "It's funny every time I hear that. Victor doesn't even know I have these kinds of powers. I haven't told him of my home planet. He only knows me as his humble little girlfriend. The gates we summon are so invisible and untraceable that you would need sonar vision just to be able move around it without running into it." Everyone kind of laughed at the idea, thinking of Tidus and how he always crashed into the light pole across Old man Wilson's front yard, but then they started to pull it all together.

"Can we go to any worlds right now though?" , Riku asked. Anastasia nodded. Merlin gave Anastasia some copper and she summoned a gate that had the symbol of an ant on the front of it. "Well this is it you guys. I can only do so much right now. You'll need to go into each world and bring me back the minerals on the list I have here." She then handed the paper to Tidus for safekeeping, who then dropped it and then Yuffie grabbed it. "Typical guys. They always leap before they look." Tidus then rushed to his feet. "Well if you think you're so tough why don't you come with us then? Then we'll see who's tougher." Yuffie nodded and sighed a little.

'It's going to hurt me to prove him wrong about girls, but a woman's got to do what a woman's got to do.' The gate opened slowly and everyone got ready to rush on into it. Leon yelled, "Hold it!!" Everyone soon stopped in their tracks. Merlin gave Sora the journal cover. "Trust me everyone. I do believe that the pages may be in each world that you may encounter. If that be the case, it's going to have to go somewhere, right?" Everyone nodded and soon Sora, Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Tidus, and Yuffie entered the gate as it slowly closed behind them.

Aerith went back inside Merlin's house along with Anastasia. Leon and Merlin continued to stare at the gate. "So Merlin do you think that they have what it takes?" Merlin paused for a moment and then began to speak. "I'd bet my beard on it. They have to my friend. Who knows what kind of trouble they'll meet while tromping about each world. I guess I can't give them too much benefit of the doubt though. They do have the King with them. Plus Sora, Riku, Donald and Goofy are experienced heroes. Only time will tell, Leon, only time will tell." They both went inside the building and closed the door behind them without leaving even a squeak to break the awkward silence outside.


	5. Chapter 4: A Bug's Life

**A Bug's Life**

Sora, Riku, Tidus, Yuffie, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy found themselves in a very strange world. The grass was the size of trees as well stones the size of skyscrapers. What's more was they each had transformed into bugs the second they arrived. Mickey became a Ladybug, Goofy was a Praying Mantis, Donald a Bumble Bee, Tidus a Caterpillar, Yuffie a firefly, Riku a scorpion and Sora an ant. Sora couldn't help but laugh a little. "We're like guys in overcoats hanging out at the park. Who knew that this world would change us into this?" A faint yawn came from Sora's pockets. "Well…that's why they call this place… Ant Island." Sora reached into his pocket to find none other than Jiminy Cricket. "Jiminy, when did you get here?" Jiminy Cricket yawned and stretched his arms one by one. "I was here the whole time Sora. After you beat Xemnas, I just had nowhere else to go. So I figured I would stick around. Although I don't see how I could be helpful now besides just recording our travels."

Sora and the others discussed in private and then came back to Jiminy Cricket. "Listen, we have to find these pages that belong to this book." He gave the journal cover to Jiminy. "Leon and Merlin said that it could be a clue into figuring out more about Victor and his secret plans. Do you think you could help us find these pages?" Jiminy nodded. "Of course I can. I'm not just going to sit on my butt for a few days while you guys have all the fun." Sora smiled and then put Jiminy back in his pocket. Out of nowhere a flea with a beat up top hat and some bread crumbs he was carrying on his back came into sight trying to get a ride by hitch hiking. Everyone ran towards him. Tidus then said, "Hey mister what are you doing?" The flea dropped his crumbs and stared up at the big caterpillar. "I'm trying to tie my shoe laces. What's it look like I'm doing kid? Since my circus crew quit on me, I'm heading back to the city to look for some new talent. Like they say, Rome wasn't built in a day. Thus the road fame won't be any different."

Sora said, "You don't have to get testy on us. We were just curious. Besides maybe we can help you out. It'll take forever to get anywhere in this neck of the woods." The flea nodded. "Darn right kid. Oh by the way, I'm not one for introductions, but the name is P.T. Flea. You can call me P.T. though." Sora then said, "That's cool. I'm Sora, this is Riku, Tidus, Yuffie, Donald, Goofy, Mickey and this little guy in my pocket is Jiminy Cricket." P.T. soon got to know everyone and what their intentions were and they got along just great. "Well I can tell you guys this. Ever since the grasshoppers made their last visit to the Ant's nesting grounds there has been a lot of creepy things appearing out of nowhere." Riku said, "Ant's nesting ground you said?" He nodded. "That's the home of the ants and their queen…Queen. I know it's not an original name, but hey what can you do?"

The group saw an ant appear from a piece of grass not too far from them and he seemed to be in a hurry as well. He was tall, blue and was out of breath by the time he reached the group. "So are we all good to go P.T.?" the ant asked. "I guarantee it'll be smooth sailing just as long you hold your end of the bargain, Flik." Sora and Riku pulled the flea back towards them and told him they would need an extra couple of minutes. "What on earth are you guys talking about? I thought you were trying to go back to the city.", Sora asked. "That was before you guys showed up looking cute and athletic. Now then let's cut to the chase, he wants to book us to do our act at his nesting grounds. You guys don't even need real talent anyway. Just do some juggling and a couple of crazy stunts. As long as the crowd likes it we'll be home free. Okay?" Reluctantly the group agreed, although they didn't know what they were getting themselves into. Soon they were off on their way to the Ant's nesting grounds.

On the way spotted many things they couldn't have ever imagined even in a movie itself. In the centre of the island was a great big tall maple leaf tree and grass that surrounded the area as far as the eye could see. Yet as they came closer to the nesting grounds they spotted a canyon in the distance. It was at least 20 feet wide and 50 feet across. There were cracks on every edge the area and the sun shone on it almost as if it were a dessert. This was surely no place for the group let alone Sora or Flik being the weakest of the group. Yet thanks to Tidus and Riku they crossed it with ease. It wasn't too long before they came in a clear distance to the nesting grounds.

Flik then went off to talk to his fellow ants while everyone else was left wondering what in the world he talking about. The group eventually started cheering and Sora and everyone else just made some fake smiles and waved to the ants. Sora grit his teeth and asked P.T. , "What are they cheering about?" P.T. gritted his teeth as well and said, "Just play along. There's nothing like a good act to get things going. Best part is if everyone does their part we'll each get a share of the profits."

Meanwhile, back at Castle Oblivion, Victor was reviewing his plans for taking over the universe when one of the radars started to act up. "That's strange. I wouldn't have thought that those guys would get to Ant Island so fast. No matter though. I'm not even after that world in any sort of way. What good are bugs if the only they can do is get squashed or eaten?" He continued his experiments for a little longer then called a night to go and check on his prisoners.

Pete and Maleficent were in one cell chained and tied up with duct tape over their mouths while Kairi and Minnie Mouse were chained to a circular wall with ten helmets just lying above each set of chains. Victor got so close to Kairi that he was only mere inches away from her. He touched her chin with his right hand and asked, "So how does it feel my dear? Knowing that your boyfriend is out there risking limb from limb to try and save you no matter the cost?" Kairi then bit his hand to which she responded, "He'll be here you'll see. And when he does, you're going to regret having ever captured me." Victor waved his hand slightly in the cold grim air. "Even when you bit me I still like your spunk. Besides, I regret nothing my dear. That is how people on my planet react to stuff. They don't ever look back or take one second thought. They just do as their told almost as if they were dogs or sheep."

Kairi then got a tear in her eye. "Oh what? Are you going to cry now? You know what seeing as how my plans are going great and I have 25 planets under my control I'll tell you what. I'm going to get your sweet guy on over here. Even if it means that I have to give a beating to every last grasshopper on that stinking planet to do it." With that he left for Ant Island leaving Kairi puzzled and confused. 'He wants to rule the universe, yet he wants to get Sora here as well. Either he's not too bright or he's planning something even bigger than dominating everything in his path. Oh no, Sora!!'

Back on Ant Island, the group was relaxing after rescuing the kids from a giant monster which was nothing more than an ordinary robin from our point of view. Yet, to an ant, a bird is like the dragon of all threats besides the grasshoppers. Sora and the others learned about Hopper and how he and his group of heartless grasshopper goons always came by the island every spring season to collect food from them to supply their unimaginable hunger. Yet Flik had an idea. Being a very curious inventor himself he managed to craft a giant replica of the robin that lived on the Island besides them. If his plan worked, not only would the grasshoppers leave the island for good but they would also they could live in peace as well.

So came the night when the grasshoppers arrived to collect their food. The Ants obviously didn't have any because they spent most of their time creating the fake bird to scare them off. The second they came the launched the bird right at them. Inside it, Sora and the others were steering the ship while laughing a little at how scared the grasshoppers were. Mickey shook his head in utter disappointment. "Remember fellas we're supposed to keep quiet. If our cover's blown then they'll start attacking." Above them a white hooded figure was sitting on the branch where the bird was. "Indeed Mickey. You wouldn't want those imbeciles to figure you guys out would you?" He snapped his fingers and light circled the branch and broke it. When it crashed into the ground they saw that they were being set up. "I've had enough of this!! We offer you all protection and this is how you repay us. No more games scum. Now you'll pay for it once and for all" , Hopper yelled as his gang of grasshopper heartless ran in for attack.

Sora and the others fought with all their might and managed to turn the tables on Hopper. But he was threatening to kill Queen and her daughters Princess Atta and Dot. Flik then ran in and took a punch to the face from Hopper. "Oh no, Flik!! Please speak to me." Flik blinked a little. "Atta, I'm sorry I got us into this mess. Silly me though, I have to be in my own little world thinking of my stupid ideas instead of helping you guys out." Princess Atta put her index finger to his mouth to calm him down. "You were only doing what your heart wanted you to do. Don't beat yourself up." Hopper started to slap his knees and laugh. "Oh isn't this precious. Lovers giving each other last words before death do them part." Sora and the others saw Hopper and grasshopper heartless surrounding the queen, her daughters and Flik. They were too far away and would never make it in time.

They prepared for the worst. Yet they heard a snap and all the heartless were destroyed leaving Hopper alone for Sora and Flik to fight. He was no easy pushover though. For the last little bit of time, even though Flik wasn't strong, he was still determined and saw a glorious sight. The real robin had come noticing the commotion. Hopper laughed some more. "This more of your tricks Flik?" "Yep." Hopper then grabbed Flik by the neck while Sora tried grabbing his arm to pull him away from Flik, but was pushed away. Flik seemed like a goner. Yet the robin gave a loud screech and Hopper knew Flik wasn't bluffing. He let go of Flik and ran as fast as he could, but the robin grabbed him and carried him away.

The next day, the ant colony had gathered to give a good celebration. Flik, however, was called up by the queen for a private meeting. She sat on her throne with dignity and radiance considering she was really old for an ant. She began to speak to the group. "You above everyone in the entire colony have been the most stubborn and the most determined to get what he wanted. You brought in supposed warriors that weren't even warriors or bugs at all. And what's worse is that your plan backfired and could have cost us our lives." Everyone, including Princess Atta and Flik, were looking at the ground in shame and disappointment. "Yet you showed courage for what you believed in and in the end that is what has given us our freedom. Atta, you also believed in Flik, and I always knew you would lead our people to a better future. And so it has come true. You are now the future queen of the colony."

Queen gave her crown, which was nothing, more than a couple of leaves with a tiny flower in the middle of it, to Princess Atta. "Oh mother, I could possibly accept this." The queen shook her head. "You deserve it. You were willing to trust the most unlikely of all worker ants and that is what makes a queen or king so successful in our family. For without trust you can't make friends and without friends your heart is broken and cold." The group agreed and left for the gate. Flik managed to catch up to them though. "I almost forgot. Here take this." It was a page from the journal as well a piece of silver. "The queen felt like it was the least she could do to repay this act of kindness." Sora the others smiled. "Aww… it was nothing Flik. Anytime you need us we'll come running. Although I wonder if we'll get a chance to see each other again." Flik put his hand on Sora's shoulder. "Where there's a will, there's a way, right? I'm bank on that my friend. As long as we look deep in our hearts there's no way we'll ever be separated. Also, about that girl you were talking about. Trust me, you'll get her back. I know you will."

P.T. came running on through into the middle of the crowd with his top hat and all. "And if not you'll still have me to talk to." The group fell out of embarrassment when he said and slightly agreed. Riku said, "Uhh… yeah of course how could we forget?" At random, they all laughed again as sign of true friendship even in some of the weirdest moments of life. Meanwhile, Victor was up in the tree staring at Sora from afar thinking and observing Sora and his actions. 'Lucky I was here. Otherwise I would have never gotten to see this. Even if he is my enemy, he still is one heck of a good guy. I haven't had a moment like this since I was a rookie. Oh well, may as well scram before I get spotted.' With that Victor disappeared into a blinding light.

Sora and the others returned home with the packet of silver to Anastasia and the journal page to Leon and Merlin. Leon read the page so fast it was mindboggling for anyone to watch his eyes move. "Good work everyone. I'm going to keep the pages here for now. It'll keep Victor off your case and it'll give us more info. about him and any secrets he has in that twisted mind of his." Riku then pulled out the packet of silver. "That reminds me. A resident of the world gave us this piece of silver. Here you go." He handed it to Anastasia and she summoned another gate, but this time with an iguanodon symbol on it.

The door opened and as it had been done before they went through it once more. The door also closed abruptly behind them just like the last time they went through a gate. Merlin then took a closer a look at the page from the journal. "That's odd. There are at least twenty words missing in random spots of the page now." Leon took a look as well. "Oh well I guess it could be worse. There could be a whole paragraph missing as well." Merlin nodded in agreement and everyone, but Anastasia went inside. She stared up at the sky thinking and wondering about Victor. 'I'll find you one day, my love. I'll never stop not even for a second. I hope that you'll still remember me though.' With that she too went inside and closed the door quietly behind her.


	6. Chapter 5: On The Way to Paradise

**On The Way to Paradise**

The group found themselves in a very strange world called the Lowland Valley. There were no trees, no clouds, not even a sign of foliage lay anywhere in this harsh dessert. It seemed to stretch on for miles as well. The only thing that showed any signs of life was iguanodon tracks and some Velociraptor tracks leading straight into the middle of this hot furnace. What was worse was that half the group had been changed dramatically. Riku became a Triceratops, Sora was a T. Rex, Donald was a pterodactyl, Goofy an Iguanodon, Tidus was a Brachiosaurus, Yuffie became a Stegosaurus, and Mickey was a Velociraptor. Yet Jiminy Cricket had managed to maintain his original form. Riku stared at Jiminy for a little bit. Jiminy saw Riku staring at him and said, "What's the matter Riku? Do I have something stuck in my teeth?" Riku took a closer look at him. "No, but I wonder why you haven't changed into a dinosaur like us." Jiminy pondered on this idea as well. "I'm not quite sure. Last thing I remember before leaving was popping out to take a look at a redhead girl that you guys were talking to and I jumped onto her shoulder. I felt odd and saw that my whole body was glowing white. My guess is that when I did that I gained the ability to defy the laws of the worlds too."

Sora then grabbed him by his shirt and flung him onto his head. "Well either way, until we get used to our new physiques you're our eyes okay buddy?" He nodded and took a good look at the area around them. "What a dump. This is place makes the canyon from Ant Island look like Palm Springs. I don't think I can see anything from… Oh no!!" The others got closer to Sora. "What is it?", Tidus asked. Jiminy shook his head. "I'm not sure. It looks like someone's in trouble up ahead." Sora then said, "Well why are we standing here with our mouths sucking our thumbs? We should get moving and help out the guy or girl."

The others ran up ahead to notice of family of lemurs and a blue Iguanodon surrounded by Velociraptors. Riku then said, "Hey Mickey. You look like one of them. Maybe ask them to call of their attack and go somewhere else." Mickey nodded and ran up to them and communicated with them as best as he could. They just gave a quiet roar and Mickey ran back in disappointment saying, "They said that anyone who interrupts them in meal is going to be an appetizer for them." The group rushed in as fast as they could and fought with them. It was ten of them against the group of six. The raptors may have had speed, but Mickey was even faster and took one out by jumping onto the raptor's back and biting him on the neck. Yuffie whacked three of them with her spiked tail and Riku charged into two them knocking them out cold. Sora finished it up by chomping into two of them while the other two raptors ran as fast as they could to safety.

The Iguanodon prepared itself for an attack by Sora, but Sora nudged him back on his feet. The lemurs then said, "Well this is new to us. A carnivore actually helped us out." Sora gave a loud roar as a sign of friendship. "Aww…It was nothing. We were glad to help. Right fellas?" The group nodded in satisfaction. "So what were you guys doing all the way out here anyway?" the Iguanodon went closer to Sora. "We were on our way to find ourselves a new home. Our old home on the island was swept away by the sea when rocks came falling from the sky a few days ago. Yet some dinosaurs say that there is a place with enough food and water to keep us all going for generations to come. Although so far we haven't had much luck. I'm so sorry though. I should introduce myself. I'm Aladar. This is Plio, Yar, Suri, and Zuri." Everyone soon got to know each other quite well. "My name's Sora, this guy here is Riku, that's Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Tidus, Yuffie, and this guy on my head is Jiminy Cricket." Jiminy hopped onto Aladar's head and got out the journal as soon as he saw a page in the sand. Another page for Anastasia's journal had been found.

Suddenly a herd of Iguanodons soon crossed their path. The leader was an iguanodon like Aladar, but more aggressive looking and he had a rougher face and a purple colour to his skin. The second he saw Aladar he snorted at him. "What's a runt like you doing with a predator?" He looked towards Sora who then got a frown on his face. "Predators are never to be trusted. Heck I'm surprised that that other green Iguanodon with the funny looking hat hasn't been plucked off yet." Then a pink Iguanodon rushed up to the front of the herd. "Oh Kron, you have no respect for others do you?" Kron had stomped the ground as hard as he could. "Stay out of this Neera!! Can't you see a predator when he's right in front of you? That raptor there let alone could be a scout for all we know." Neera snorted a little. "Oh please, if these guys meant any harm, why would a t.rex and a velociraptor be going side by side with a stegosaur and let alone a triceratops or brachiosaur? Besides I think we should let them come with us." Kron stomped the ground harder this time. The ground around the herd started to rumble as if an earthquake were occurring.

"Are you mad? This would ruin our reputation as a herd. No other herbivore would dare cooperate with a t.rex." "It doesn't matter. He could protect us in case other predators did show up." Kron shook his head and then turned around to lead the group ahead. "You t.rex." Sora roared as loud as he could. His roar was even louder than Kron's stomping. "The name is Sora thank you." Kron snorted again. "Whatever. I don't care if your name is Sharptooth. You guys are allowed to come with us on one condition. You will protect us from the Carnotaurs. Otherwise you and the rest of the group, which includes the lemurs and the blue iguanodon there, will be left behind. I also don't like stragglers, got it? Good, now let's more people. The sun will set soon and we must find a good spot away from the predators."

The group then traveled with the herd for days and the trip seemed to take longer and longer than everyone was hoping for. The blazing heat day after day didn't make things any better either. It was so hot that if you tried to make scrambled eggs, they would burn and shrivel up into ash and dust. On the bright side the nights were cool and the breeze was so refreshing it made most of the herd forget about dehydration and food for a while. Yet when Riku tripped over a stone Sora had to stop. "Riku are you okay?" Riku opened his eyes to see his T.rex buddy and everyone else, except the herd, come to help him out. Aladar and his lemur family stayed behind as well to help him out as well. "It's alright guys. You better get going without me. The herd will leave you guys if you don't."

Sora picked Riku up off the ground with his head. "Don't say that. You're part of our herd. That means no one gets left behind. Especially you. I've waited so long before to talk to you again and I'm not planning on leaving you here." Riku nodded and before they knew it, the herd was long gone. The only thing that was left was their tracks. Even worse still, it began to rain as well. Luckily, Donald flew up ahead to scan the area and found a cave where they could take shelter. The group hurried as fast as they could and tried to get some sleep. Minutes later they heard some roaring coming from outside. Sora and Aladar quickly stood up and instantly thought one thing: Carnotaurs. They were headed straight for the cave, but lost their scent because of the water dripping fast at the entrance to the cave.

Sora and Aladar woke everyone else up and they began to tip toe as quietly as they could to far end of the cave. There was a tunnel on their far left they could use to escape. However, since Tidus was a brachiosaur he had a long neck that protruded into the ceiling of the cave, knocking a chunk of rock down towards the entrance. There was nothing anyone could do. The Carnotaurs saw the rock appear from the cave and began to investigate. They spotted Aladar and the lemurs and immediately ran in to attack the group. Mickey, Sora and Aladar stayed back to fend them off. Riku then said, "I'll get everyone to safety. Are you sure you'll be alright?" Sora looked at Mickey and Aladar. "I think we'll manage." He gave a big smile and roared as loud as he could, while Riku got everyone inside the tunnel.

Sora and the others bucked neck and neck with the giant behemoths and Sora couldn't use the keyblade being the big giant that he was and was getting teamed up really bad. Mickey managed to call forth his kingdom keyblade and knocked the walls of the cave crushing both Carnotaurs and saving Sora. "Thanks your majesty. You've saved my butt a bunch times and I still have no way to repay you for either of them." Mickey nodded. "It's alright. I don't expect an award. Even if you could I would still help you out. After all, we got to stick together right?" Sora and Aladar nodded. Then the rocks started to move. One Carnotaur managed to survive the commotion. He was too far behind his comrade to receive the full amount of damage and headed for the cave entrance. Then he gave a loud roar and left the place for good.

Riku then came back to check on the others. "Thank gosh you guys are alright." Aladar stared at the cave entrance for a while. "I wonder what that was all about?" Sora stomped the ground. "He said I was weak. He thinks I'm giving my kind a bad name just because I'm helping you out, Aladar. What's worse is he challenged me to a duel. The winner gets to leave with his dignity and his pride." Aladar nudged him as well as Riku did too. Aladar said, "I wouldn't worry about it. Carnotaurs have been known to have a rough ego. They never can admit defeat unless they lose a limb or die in a fight. Even then they look like they don't have a bruised ego as well." Riku turned to the tunnel. "Either way, I know you'll beat him. You're a T.Rex and everyone knows a T.Rex can school any competition that stands in his way." Sora nudged Riku and started laughing. "Triceratops can give T.Rex a good run for his money though." With that, the two friends ran up the ridge to the tunnel laughing and racing each other there.

Aladar stared at the two with respect. 'Friends, what a great feeling. Even in the face of danger, they still comfort each other. I wonder how Neera and Kron are doing.' Aladar soon followed the rest of the group to a dead end. At least that's what they thought at first. "Hmm…that's weird.", Jiminy said in curiosity. "What is it?", Sora asked. "This wall feels pretty thin like I could…". Without even being able to finish his sentence, Jiminy Cricket poked through a hole and the wall collapsed opening up a doorway. When the group looked inside they saw a huge lake filled with trees, a huge waterfall, and a spacious valley which seemed endless when looking upon it. "This is it. This is the paradise everyone was talking about.", Riku said. Then Yuffie took a look and found a huge amount of rocks pilled up on one side on the right of the waterfall. "Looks like there's a huge amount of rocks on that side don't ya think?" Aladar soon became worried. "That's where the herd was headed. They're walking into a death trap if they think they could get over that crevasse." Plio then brushed himself up. "So why would you care about those guys? They were going to leave poor Riku behind when he fell."

Sora stepped forward. "Yes Plio. But, you can't forget though. We are here to be an example and help others who can't help themselves. It wouldn't be right to just let them get killed. Besides the Carnotaur might go after them as well." Mickey ran off to the entrance to the cave. "Well Sora, if you want to go and get the herd, now would be a good time to do it." Sora nodded and soon enough the whole group came with them to search for the herd.

Days went by fast. They fought heartless dinosaurs like the pterodactyls, raptors, and ankylosaurs, and they managed to get to the herd as quick as possible. Yet even after they told them what was going on, Kron was still convinced that he had to go up the cliff. So as stubborn as he was he ran up the cliff and struggled to climb. Before the group could even do anything to stop him, they heard a roar. It was The Carnotaur and a group of heartless raptors and pterodactyls. Riku then said, "You, Aladar and the King better go get Kron. We can take of these guys." Sora agreed and left with Aladar and Mickey who were soon accompanied by Neera to try and get Kron back down. Carnotaurs were notorious for plucking out the weakest of herds of dinosaurs.

The Carnotaur soon caught on and found his own way up the cliff. It became a race for time as Kron struggled to climb higher up the cliff with a hungry carnivore behind him as well as the group that he left behind two weeks ago, excluding Neera. The Carnotaur soon caught up with him and with nowhere else to run Kron looked like a goner. As he was about to bite into Kron, Sora tackled the beast and Kron was sent flying into a boulder. While Neera went to look at Kron, Mickey, Sora and Aladar surrounded the Carnotaur. The beast soon roared so loud the walls were starting to shake. "What'd he say now Sora?", Mickey asked. "He said that this'll be a one on one duel. I guess that means you guys will have to watch from the sidelines. Pretty soon a barrier appeared blocking off Sora and his friends from the battle. "Now we'll see who's tougher."

The Carnotaur bit Sora on the leg, but Sora soon bit him hard on his snout. They were neck and neck hitting each other with everything that they had. Sora however tripped, but at a good time too. The Carnotaur rushed in to defeat him, but Sora pushed his legs and took the monster with it to the bottom of the crevasse. "Looks like this duel is over.", Sora said with pride and accomplishment. Sora did it, but a price. Kron was dying, and he didn't have much time. "Hey Sora…Come closer!!", Kron exclaimed softly. Sora did as he was told. "I…know I was a jerk and for that I apologize….I just wish…I could've seen you… as the hero that you as well as Aladar… are….Take care of the herd Aladar as well as my sister… they need you… now more than… ever!" With that he died and passed on. The Cliffside grew quiet and everyone comforted each other knowing that from bad times there are also good times.

The herd soon found itself back in the nesting grounds and soon enough Aladar and everyone else could rest now. Other herds of dinosaurs appeared as well ranging in shape and size, from ankylosaurs to oviraptors. "Sora, Mickey Riku, and all of you guys, I don't know how I could possibly thank you. You've not only helped us get to the Promised Land and you also taught me something important. You can never take your friends for granted. I also have Neera too who always believed in me through everything that has happened to us." Sora and the others giggled when they saw how close they were to each other. "We'd better leave. We don't want these lovebirds to have their fun spoiled right guys?" They all laughed and Aladar and Neera got embarrassed when they too realized how close they were and stepped back just a little from each other.

Afterwards Sora and the others returned home and gave the page to Merlin and Leon. "It's quite astounding. This girl has such great power that the page fills every word its missing with ease. The people of Ailiana must have great power indeed.", Merlin had commented. Leon took the page from Sora as well as the chunk of titanium they found in the paradise that was the Promised Land. "Let's hope that Victor doesn't get his mitts on that spot before we do. For all we know he could use that kind of power to dominate every last planet with ease." Anastasia opened up another gate using the titanium she was given and soon a gate with a gladiator symbol on it appeared beside the gates to Ant Island and Lowland Valley. The group rushed on in again not knowing what to expect but that was the point of this adventure. They are always clueless, but never give in so long as they have each other.


	7. Chapter 6: When in Rome

**When in Rome, Do as the Spartan Does**

The group found themselves in Gladiator Highlands. It was filled with Greek Architecture on every corner and ancient Greek tapestry to give that classic ancient European feel to it. The only thing that did break the peaceful look about it was destroyed buildings here and there along with dead bodies with blue clothing and red clothing being among them. The group were themselves and Sora was free to use his keyblade any time he wished. Yet this was no time to celebrate. Everyone saw light come a distant corner of the city. "I guess we'd better go check things out.", Riku said. The group ran as fast as they could to find themselves in a big garden with an electric chamber in the centre of it. There Medusa was getting shocked and with that she turned soldiers around her fighting into stone.

There were red clothed soldiers and blue clothed soldiers on every corner fighting for their causes and near the entrance to the garden on the other side, Sora saw a man with a scruffy beard and mustache with blue clothing on him fighting a man with red clothing and a powerful shield and sword. This blue soldier was relatively young, but on the backend. He seemed to be a man of twenty five to thirty and had a symbol on his shield that was a cross between a triangle and a capital "A". He also had long brown locks, which were in way like girl's hair but culturally accepted by his kind. The red soldier however had had short brown hair a rough look about him and what's more his shield had two leaf emblems going left to right and right to left joining together at the bottom. The red soldier also had an Australian/Wales accent as well.

"You'd best give up Spartan!! The Roman Empire's Victory is inevitable!!!" The Spartan fought back and pushed him at the shield. "Never Crassus!! As long as I draw breath I'll never give up!!" The group was standing there for a couple of minutes not knowing who to help out. Mickey then ran off to help the Spartan. "Time for an old fashioned beat down!!", Riku exclaimed. With that the group rushed off to fight Crassus. "How cute. It would seem you've got friends in high places. Don't you Spartan?" The Spartan was surprised to see that more people were coming to help him, but he knew that Crassus was the brawn behind the Roman Empire as well. "Be careful everyone. He can call down light and turn everyone and everything to stone." Sora said, "No problem Mister. We can handle anything with the keyblade at our side." The Spartan held off Crassus long enough to gaze on the key like sword and then continued to fight Crassus.

The group kept coming at Crassus, but he was too strong even for them. He used his shield with ease and was quick and deadly because of his athletic build. Sora whacked his shield with the keyblade, but got repelled by his sword. "Such a foolish boy. You don't have what it takes to go up against the likes of me!!" Sora then jumped up and his shield again with the keyblade. It cracked and broke in two straight down the middle. "How do ya like me now, Crassus?", Sora asked. He could only laugh when hearing Sora talk. "You foolish little boy, you have no idea who you're dealing with." Crassus summoned his magic and everyone around him except Sora and the Spartan were turned to stone. Sora rushed at him and hit his armour, but he also got slashed at his chest by Crassus' tough steel. Crassus then used his speed to continue his repeated attacks on Sora.

Afterwards, Sora was left badly injured and couldn't move. Crassus put his boot on top of his chest and had his sword two feet above his neck. "Such a shame it truly is. A youth to be killed by my sword. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers!!" Sora closed his eyes and awaited the final blow, but heard a loud slashing noise. The Spartan had Crassus on his and started turning the tables on him. He slashed him many, many times and with one final blow pierced his armour and right through his chest. Crassus couldn't help, but laugh. "You think…this proves anything…It doesn't…mark my words…the Roman Empire will lay siege to Sparta…and victory will be ours!!!" Crassus had died upon finishing his statement. The electric chamber exploded and collapsed killing Medusa and the group returned to their normal state.

"Thank you everyone. You aided me and my people even when there was no reason for it. I wish this was the end though. This is only the beginning though. The Roman Empire won't rest until it has laid siege to our city. Even the great wall that protects us won't do any good now. Not so long as Tiberius is alive." The others gather around to hear the Spartan's lowly story.

He was orphaned at a young age and had no recollection of his parents or his childhood. The only thing he remembered was being trained to be a Spartan warrior. Everyone else soon got introduced to the Spartan as well. "That's an amazing story there Spartan.", Mickey said. "Trust me your majesty. This battle is far from over. The Romans will keep attacking us unless we can get the spear of Achilles. There's been word that a white hooded boy took the spear inside the ruins of Troy and killed the Hydra that lived in it. They also say that he erected a castle not too far from the city of Athens. We could easily head to it and free the Athenians as well." The group then saw two more Spartan men appear. One was really tall, had very light strawberry brown coloured hair, very buff and wielded a long thick bladed spear. The other was much shorter than him and slightly shorter than the Spartan. He also had strawberry brown hair thus being believed to be twins because they had the same rough looking appearance.

"Good to see you Castor. You too Pollux.", The Spartan said. Sora then said, "I'm Sora, This is Riku, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Tidus and Yuffie." Castor being as big as he was brave knelt down to show his respect for the newcomers. "So are we going to this castle or what?", Pollux asked. "Patience Pollux. We need Electra here if we're going to pull this attack off. If what the villagers said was correct, this boy in the white hooded suit is dangerous and means business. We'll need to distract him somehow if we are going to get the spear of Achilles." So thus, Sora and the rest of his group along with the Spartan, Pollux, Castor and Electra soon left for the castle just outside of Athens. It was at least six to eight days of traveling before they finally made it. Jiminy Cricket found another of the journal's pages just outside the castle walls.

When they entered inside it, they found many corridors leading off to many different paths and on a balcony just above they saw someone summon bricks to build a path across to the other side. This man was similar to Crassus, except his hair was darker as well as his clothing was dark purple. The only thing that was bright on him was his roman armour. He also was as pale as a ghost and his eyes made him look really sinister and despising. He also had a British accent to add to the look as well. "Ah it is so wonderful to finally meet you Spartan. I've come a long way from Rome just to finally meet you here inside the master's castle." The Spartan got an angry look on himself as well as everyone else did as well.

"Sejanus!! I should've known. Tell me what Tiberius is up to now!!" Sejanus shook his index finger in the air. "Oh come now!! That's not very nice now is it? Either way it doesn't matter to me. Emperor Tiberius was killed just a few days ago while you were traveling here. A boy in white hooded suit told me I could have all the riches I desire so long as I help him out with his master plan." Sora and the others gasped. "It must be Victor!!" The Spartan held his ground. "So I suppose you're his new right hand man now. It would make sense since Crassus…" Sejanus then appeared in front of the Spartan. "Crassus was a brute and nothing more than that. He had neither common sense nor intellect. I on the hand would rather use rational thinking and the dark arts to gain victory for my cause. I guarantee I'm much more of a challenge than Crassus ever could be." He then summoned dead bodies of his roman comrades that Victor had killed creating the castle. "Yeah well we'll see about that!!", Sora yelled.

Sora and the others fought as best as they could but to no avail. "You know this is kinda reminding me of our time in Port Royal. We're going to have to use magic to get rid of these guys.", Goofy said. Sora and the others nodded and then used magic to get rid of the undead soldiers. Soon afterwards, the Spartan saw the spear of Achilles up ahead. The second he grabbed it though, the place started to collapse. The group ran as fast as they could and managed to get out in one piece. "Now then off to Athens. Do you hear me Sejanus? Your end is at hand!!!", The Spartan yelled into the crisp cool sunset where on the horizon everyone could see the city of Athens. The Spartan then raised the spear of Achilles in air as a sign of accomplishment.

The group soon found themselves in Athens, but little did they know that something odd was going to happen. In the town square, Sejanus and Victor were standing in front of twenty Athenian citizens about to be slaughtered by roman soldiers. "Listen carefully Sejanus. I don't want to repeat myself again. You are under no circumstances to kill the boy with the keyblade or his group of friends. The Spartan and his friends on the other hand I could care less about. Incinerate them, squash them, or slaughter them. I really don't care how you do it. Just make sure you do it alright. If my plan is going to work I need every piece of the puzzle filled as best as it possibly can be. Understand?" Sejanus nodded. "I give you my word my lord. Consider this as a way of thank for giving me the treasures I desire." The boy nodded with gratitude. "Good then. I must leave now. Remember don't underestimate them under any circumstances." With that Victor left the scene. Sejanus then stared up at the sky.

"Well Spartan let's see how strong you really are. I know you're out there somewhere. This massacre will be sure to snuff you out into the open." Meanwhile, Sora, The Spartan and the others arrived to notice that a group of Athenians were surrounded by the roman soldiers. "Oh no!! We'd better hurry Sora. No doubt Sejanus wants to create a trap for us." Sora nodded and everyone along with him ran up ahead to face a thousand roman soldiers surrounding them. The group charged in and saved the people and then went after the soldiers. Yuffie jumped on one guy's back and flung him backwards into ten other soldiers. Riku and Goofy did a combined assault with Riku's keyblade and Goofy's shield taking out thirty guys in one attack. Castor and Pollux did their own combined attacks with Castor's large spear and Pollux's sword and shield, Electra being of the Amazon warriors was very agile and took out forty guys in one strike, and Tidus and Mickey took out thirty guys each as well. To finish up Sora and the Spartan ran in and did a move that the Spartans called "Gladiator Rush". It entailed them rushing in, slicing and dicing their opponents and then to finish up jump up and slam the ground hard to finish the attack. Every last soldier was defeated when Sora and the Spartan finished their move.

"You're pretty strong Sora. I'm surprised I haven't met someone like you before. You all have the strength of an army all on your own.", the Spartan said with honour. Sora blushed a little. "Oh well, that's my friends and I for you. We never do give up until the job is done." He nodded in agreement and they saw a familiar white hooded figure. Sora got mad and ran ahead. He tried to slash him, but it was only a hologram. "I stand corrected. Not only do you not have brains, but you also have no common sense either. Of course I would transmit a hologram. I'm not gonna waste my time with a rookie." Sora clenched his fists. "Alright tell me right now!! Where's Kairi? What have you done to her?"

Victor took a look at Sora's group. "Relax tiger!! She's fine. I just need her for a little bit longer. Once I'm done conquering your galaxy I'll leave. I'll also give your girl back. Or at least, what's left of her." He laughed some more and disappeared with Sora jumping right at him. "You Monster!!!" With that they went up a set of dark looking stairs up into a purple cloud. Up top of it they were on a circular arena. They heard a faint laugh and soon a very happy Sejanus came landing on his feet with a giant Skeleton Dragon just behind him. "Good to see you again Spartan. You had me worried for a second. I thought you wouldn't show yourself to me. Now let's see how you fair against one of my friends." With that he jumped on top of the Skelton Dragon and flew off to prepare for attack.

The group tried to fight the beast as best as they could, but he was too agile and quick for them to handle. Mickey and Riku then ran forward. "Leave this to us you guys. We know how handle creeps like him.", Mickey said. They two keyblade wielders then got on top of the dragon and slashed at him until he was no more. He exploded into a million pieces and eventually turned to dust. The group cheered with delight only to have their spirits crushed by a very angry Sejanus. "How could you kill Ladon? That fine steed was very loyal to me." Pollux then ran forward to get at Sejanus. Castor then called out to him. "Pollux no!! We can take him together. Sejanus slashed him with his sword, proving his dominance and showing off his superior swordsmanship.

"How could you? You killed Pollux." Sejanus snickered a little. "Did you hear that Pollux? Your brother wants you up on your feet." With that he resurrected Pollux as one of his undead minions. Castor ran up ahead to hold off Pollux. "I can take care of my brother. You guys better stay focused on Sejanus." The group nodded and rushed off to fight Sejanus. Sejanus blocked off everyone, except Sora, Riku and the Spartan. "Now you'll get a taste of my power!!", Sejanus yelled with delight. Sora ran in to slash Sejanus, but he blocked it with his sword. Everyone put in the best efforts, but one by one Sejanus knocked everyone about in all direction. Even with some of their combined attacks it wasn't enough.

The group attacked from three different angles but Sejanus thwarted each attack. "Very persistent attacks, I'm so impressed. However, brute force can't save you now." Sejanus sliced up Riku pretty good, knocking him out cold. Sora saw this and rushed right at him. "You won't get away with that!!" Sejanus slashed Sora out his way, and used his dark magic to torture the poor boy. The Spartan then slashed Sejanus, temporarily giving Sora enough time to move a bit. Sejanus moved quick and attacked the Spartan from every angle that he could using his dark magic. The Spartan then lay on the ground helpless and injured. Sejanus took out his sword once and raised it up above his head. Before he could finish off The Spartan, his sword was blocked by Sora and his keyblade. "Why? Why must you persist in protecting this fool?" Sora pushed him back towards the edge of the arena. "He's my friend. I never leave my friends behind. Never do you hear me? Never!!" Sora then slashed him and he fell off the arena into the purple abyss below. Yet, Sejanus wasn't through yet.

He reappeared looking undead with no hair on top of his head. His voice became thicker as well. Riku then came to. They tried to attack him, but he was invulnerable and much more powerful than he was a few minutes ago. "Foolish peons. You can't defeat me.", Sejanus cried out. "What does it take to beat this guy?" Riku asked. "He's got more tricks up his sleeve than a magician at magic show." The Spartan then looked around to notice four Priestesses. "I bet if we take out the priestesses… we can…"The Spartan noticed that Mickey, Tidus and Yuffie already killed three out of the four. Riku then killed the last one. "So much for that. Oh well.", said the Spartan. This time though, the Spartan was left to fight Sejanus alone. Even injured he kept on fighting until finally he managed to strike him down thus killing him for good. He stared down at his fallen opponent's body. "You were right Sejanus. You were much more of a challenge than Crassus was."

Castor then mourned for his brother calling out his name in the dark sky. "I'm sorry Castor. There's nothing we can do though." Everyone gathered to help Castor to his feet and they left the arena. The only thing left up there were the dead bodies of Sejanus, Praetorian Prefect, and Pollux, the unlikely spark for the heroes attack against the Roman Empire.

They then set off to the Roman Empire's capital down south. The traveled past their main defense which was the Gates of Saturn said to be an unbearable stronghold. Finally, after days and days of passing through the long mountain ranges to the north and the calm beautiful lowlands to the south, they finally found themselves in Rome. The city was nothing like they had ever seen before. The Romans had their own unique architecture and the river that passed the city on the other side had ferns and trees as big as elephants. The Sun shone brightly in this city and with no clouds in the sky, it was clearly dominant in the blue abyss. At the centre of this beautiful majestic city was the Roman Colosseum. The group made it inside and in the highest seat where the Caesar would sit and watch the gladiators fight, a white hooded figure sat instead.

"You know it truly is hard to find good help these days. I tell him not to try and kill you guys and look what happened. You guys practically wipe the floor with him and come find me." Sora ran up in anger. "You have some nerve. Because of you, my friends and I could've been killed!! Not only that, but you still have Kairi with you…" He then teleported to Electra and captured her. "Just a little souvenir for the road mates." The Spartan soon became angry as well. "Now you've crossed the line with me. You'd better…" Victor laughed. "Better what? Let her go or I'm dead meat? My you're clueless." Victor then explained to Spartan of his mother being one of Aphrodite's handmaids who figured out about Ares' affair with her and she was killed while Ares was banished. Since then he grew up with the people of Sparta after he lost all of his memories and had been blessed with superhuman powers and talents.

"I have a little friend of yours as well. Meet Ares, everyone." The Spartan soon saw the behemoth himself as well as his mother's murderer. He was twenty feet tall, wore red armour and His sword and shield were a quarter the size of the entire stadium. "You were the one who told me to go get Achilles Spear. You also had the Romans attack us in Sparta and Athens, didn't you?" He nodded. "I joined those pathetic wretches just so I could find you Spartan. I knew if you had the spear of Achilles you would soon find yourself out here facing me. Now you'll get to test your might against a god. We'll see who's more powerful once and for all." Victor then made a barrier closing off everyone except Mickey, Sora and the Spartan.

The group attacked Ares, like they did with Sejanus before. Sora tried to kick him at the arms and slice him with the keyblade. Mickey jumped as high as he could and attacked Ares from the air. The Spartan used his agility to try and get at his legs. Ares knocked each and every one of them with ease unfortunately. Ares was far too powerful and invulnerable to be beaten by brute force. So the Spartan acted like Hercules did and summoned some shocker shields which made him vulnerable. Mickey and Sora pulled off a combined triple force attack with the Spartan right at Ares. However, he repelled their attack and grabbed Mickey and Sora and he began to squeeze them hard. The Spartan knew his only would have to be a quick vicious slice and dice. Even if it meant he would be killed too, he had to try. He attacked Ares at his chest and he let go of Mickey and Sora. The Spartan then used the spear of Achilles to go right through Ares' skull.

There was an explosion and took the Spartan with him. When the smoke cleared the Spartan's body lay in the midst of the chaos. Victor rose out of his seat in disappointment and anger. "Fools. That's all you and my associates are. You're nothing but ignorant persistent fools. I guarantee we'll meet again, and when I do come back. You won't last five minutes with me Sora!!" With that he disappeared with Electra by his side in another blinding light.

Luckily the Spartan came to and noticed Ares had been defeated. Sora promised him that they would get Electra back and until then had to keep their eyes peeled for anything suspicious. "Wait!! I have one more thing to give you Sora. It's my way of saying thanks." Sora took a trinket of gold from the Spartan's left hand and ran off waving good bye to him. Leon and Merlin then rushed outside out of breath completely. "Everyone you must come inside quickly!! We've figured out something very important." Sora and the others gasped at the news that was just presented to them. Leon snapped his fingers. "Well don't just stand there!! Come on in!! We got work to do!!" With that the whole group went inside Merlin's house with the page from the journal and the gold trinket with Sora in hand.


	8. Chapter 7: Secrets Revealed

Secrets Revealed

Merlin and Leon searched each dresser door they could to find every last piece of information that they could. The group waited and waited and waited and it seemed to take forever for them just to grab what they needed. Riku got up to stretch his legs. "Got enough stuff there Leon? You've been at this for twenty minutes now." Leon raised his hand with only three fingers up. "Give me this many minutes and I'll be ready." Sora and the others gave a quick sigh of impatience. Sora asked, "What's the point of getting us all in here then if you're not even ready to go yet?" Merlin then came in from his closet with a familiar book.

It had a cover with Sora and Winnie the Pooh lying down and looking at the moon and the stars. Merlin set the book down and began to speak. "It's because Victor can travel at the speed of light to any part of the galaxy. If he were to figure what we were doing, our work would be destroyed, along with the rest of us. Now then, the reason we called you all back here is because we found some more clues in those pages you brought us." Leon found sections three to five and began reading them.

"Section Three: The time has come

It has been a rough journey coming to very far off world of Sanshobi, but it was all worth it. I met a man by the name of Yakuza Kochiyama. I told him my situation and he said he could help me out on one condition. I, unfortunately must earn some money and work out two times a week for the next two weeks to burn off fat. I don't know what that has to do with me, but I'm willing to do anything for…Victor!!

It's been at least two weeks now and tomorrow I'll be human, just like Victor. What a great feeling this is? I feel like I'm floating through the air and slowly dropping into a sea filled with candy and chocolate all around me. I can't shake this feeling though, that something bad is about to happen. It involves me and him."

Leon reattached the page into the journal while everyone continued to talk about the situation. "That girl must really like him to do all that just for him. I wonder if he even cares about this girl or even remembers her at all.", Sora said. Leon then took out the second page that they got in Lowland Valley. Leon once more began reading again.

"Section Four: Of Flesh and Blood

What a day!! It has been five hours since the operation and it all feels like a blur. Mr. Kochiyama said prior to the operation that he would have to take a sample of my blood and mix it with one of my hairs. He also that I would be knocked out for an hour giving him enough time to create a natural body from someone already dead. It grossed me out just thinking about it, but when it eventually came time I closed my eyes and went to sleep. He woke me up and said that the operation was a success. Luckily the body he had was a red-headed girl who got killed in a car accident. He managed to get it because he told the government and the family he would do some experiments to manipulate muscle tissue and create a physically stronger tissue for all the people on the planet.

Anyway, I paid him and gave him my thanks with a great big hug and kiss. He smiled and told me good luck at getting my guy. I then left for Earth. What a sight this planet is. There are so many people and so many places to eat, I can't figure out where to go. That's the problem now for me too. Now that I'm human I need sustenance to survive. What was more, my mother sent me a letter said she wanted me to come home. I saw tear prints on the letter and knew I did a terrible thing. I wish I could get back home… wait I see my mother right now. She's across the street inside a back alley. Maybe I'll go surprise her. She always likes it when I do that."

Leon attached the second page into the journal. The room was dead silent for a couple of minutes. No one knew how to respond to such a story. Then Riku broke the silence. "I guess this planet Ailiana is pretty strict on their rules, huh?" Merlin nodded. "That planet has had their laws in place long before humans even appeared on his planet. The rules have never changed since the planet was created. Makes me wonder how Anastasia could handle being alone like this." Anastasia came into view. "I'm right here you know that." Merlin turned away in embarrassment.

The redhead sighed out of pity. "It's alright. I've had this before. I simply just wanted to be with Victor so much I couldn't help but leave home without an answer to my mother or father. I knew they wouldn't approve of it. I took up the body of a redheaded girl the same age as Victor. It's ironic because I was technically the same age as him before my operation. I just wish I could've to my mother before… 'sob'… before". The others gathered to try and comfort the poor girl. Yuffie then rubbed her soft shoulder. "Before what? It's okay. You can tell us.", Yuffie said. Anastasia then pointed to the last page that Leon had in his hand. He read the last page as clearly as he could.

"Section Five: Death do us part

I saw my mother up ahead lying on the ground. I thought of course she was sleeping and tried to wake her up. I then touched her hand. It wasn't beating and it was cold."

Sora stood up and said, "Hey hold it right there!! I thought her mother was an Angel." Anastasia shook her head. "She was very much a human like you or Kairi. It was the only I could get the operation was because I was born with angel and human blood." Leon then looked around the room. "Anyone else want to interrupt while we're at this." No one answered. "Good now let's continue."

"I got tears in my eyes and started to cry. My mother meant everything in the world to me. She helped me when I cut myself on my tricycle. She always tucked me in at night besides daddy. She made the best potroast in the whole world. I couldn't believe she was gone. But I also knew that the kingdom would allow her spirit in Ailiana so I pulled it together. Then he was there in the shadows. He was a small little boy. He was in old clothes that smelled really bad, his eyes were sparkling brown as well as his hair was brown blowing in the breeze. It was that boy I saw in the same dream. It was Victor!! He looked like he was about to cry. I didn't know why, but I figured I would go closer to him to comfort him. He then said 'Come with me!!'.

He took me to a very large building people called the Calgary Tower. My daddy was up there and I hugged him as hard as I could. He had tears on his great big blonde beard. I pointed to the little boy who saved me and he gave him some clothes and money so he could take care of himself thinking he would go to a foster home. I then gave him a big hug and a big kiss. He tried to squirm free, but I wouldn't let him. I felt his lips on mine, and I couldn't have been happier. He then turned away, but I could see he was blushing red and couldn't help but laugh. Soon my dad chuckled a little as well as we both saw the boy run away in embarrassment."

Everyone else soon started to laugh as well at the little stuff that Victor had done. Sora then said, "Poor guy eh? First hint that he likes you." Anastasia smiled thinking the same thing. Soon afterwards the laughing ceased and soon they heard clapping coming from inside the room. It was a familiar white hooded figure walking forward as he was clapping. He soon stopped as well. "My that was beautiful. I can't believe you actually felt that way about me. I'm touched that you did all that Anastasia." The boy pulled down his hood to give Anastasia an innocent smile. "Victor, how long were you there for?" Victor said, "I heard the whole thing. I can't believe that this actually occurred. You really felt that way about me." Victor's smile then turned into a frown. "I feel so ashamed at myself for what I did to you." Sora then stood up. "If you're really sorry, you'll give Kairi back to me as well as Minnie and Electra." He then got his grin back. "Tsk-tsk-tsk. Why do you have to make this so hard? I come not bearing any weapons and feel obliged to see my girl and this is how you treat me. I guess if you want to fight, who am I to stop you eh? That is of course if you could handle five minutes me." His grin got a little bigger and his eyebrows pointed slightly downward.

Sora and Victor glared at each other for thirty seconds. Riku then ran ahead of Sora. "I'll take you on!!", the white haired teen yelled. Sora then looked at Riku. "Riku, what are you doing?" Riku stared at Victor still. "There's something about him that just doesn't feel right about him. I got to figure out what he's up to." Victor then opened up a portal that was white in colour. "Be my guest then. Just don't cry when I wipe the floor with you." Victor then went through the portal. Riku ran up, but Sora then grabbed him at his shoulder. "Riku." Riku looked at Sora. "What is it, buddy?" Sora gave him a smile of relief. "Be careful." Riku nodded and ran into the portal which closed up behind him as quickly as it had opened.

It was very quiet from there on after. Merlin and Leon on the other hand didn't have time to day dream. "Sora, you my boy are going to pay Pooh a visit. He has something that could be very important for you on your quest." Sora and the others took a glance at book and then Leon gave him the journal again. "May as well take this with you on your way to see Pooh. There's still ten pages missing and they're not going to magically walk into the journal." Sora nodded and everyone, but him went closer to the book. It then became a gate all on its own with a honey pot as symbol in the centre. They all entered inside except Sora.

"What does he have that could be important for me?" Merlin shook his head. "The research could only give us so much I'm afraid. The only way you'll find out is if you go and see him yourself." Anastasia then grabbed Sora's arm. "Sora, please don't hurt Victor. He's not a bad guy, he's just got a weird way of showing his good side that's all." Sora grabbed Anastasia's right and left hand. "It's okay. We both want to see our loved ones back safe and sound and I guarantee I'll see to it that it happens." Anastasia nodded and soon enough Sora went inside the portal and the door closed shut the second he entered.


	9. Chapter 8: It all Began with Honey?

**It all Began with…Honey?**

The group soon found themselves inside the Hundred Acre Wood. The woods were as they usually were. The trees were tall and green along with that the river flowed with tenacity and fish filled the little creek out by Rabbit's house. Things were obviously okay here, since neither the nobodies nor the heartless came into this world ever in Sora's last two encounters. The group traveled for a little while until they came upon Pooh's house. As usual he was doing his morning exercises with a honey pot right next to him. "Still doing your exercises Pooh bear?", Sora asked.

Pooh stopped to look at the group. "Oh hello there Sora. Yes I am. I'm trying to get ready for the big race that's happening this Friday. By the way, who are those big people right next to you? I don't think I've met them before." Sora laughed a little when he realised he wasn't the only one who entered the book (currently a gate now).

"I'm sorry Pooh. I forgot to mention who these guys are. They're Tidus, Yuffie, Mickey, Donald and Goofy. So you were saying something about a race?", Sora continued. "Oh yes there is one. The whole entire forest is going to be there. The course is around my house, past Rabbit's house, then past the river, up the old hill we always said our goodbyes from and then back here at my house to finish." Sora and the others soon got excited over this. "Sounds like fun. What's first prize?" Pooh sat down to think. He put his hand up to his head and repeating knocking it back and forth from his head. "Oh yes first prize is a life-time supply of honey!! It's my kind of prize in any competition!!" Everyone fainted and Sora got a little embarrassed knowing Pooh and how big his appetite was.

Sora and the others soon took this as a good opportunity. Mickey then asked, "Is there some possible way we could enter the race as well?" Pooh nodded. "The more the merrier I always say." Sora and the rest of the group did some exercises and worked hard for the next few days. They did sit-ups, push-ups, and other stuff to get them ready for the big race coming up. Amidst all the commotion, a silent white hooded figure lay in the shadows of Pooh's house just out of Sora's sight. Sora then took a look behind the house out of pure curiosity that he felt he was being watched. Yet no one was there. Sora then left to find Pooh. "It's almost time there punk. Soon you'll get a taste of my steel against yours.", Victor said as he dropped a piece of paper from the top of Pooh's house. Mickey then went around the tree to stretch his legs and noticed the page on the ground. He looked up to the tree in curiosity. 'Why are you doing this Victor? What possible reason is there for this rivalry between you and Sora?', Mickey thought. He didn't bother too much to think and took the page with him.

Tigger and Piglet soon came along to meet Sora and the others. Tigger was being his energetic self by bouncing up down so fast you couldn't keep track of where he was last. Piglet on the other hand was being his quiet self by taking very small steps to go and talk to Sora, let alone even keep up with Tigger. Tigger was the first to tap on Sora's big braud shoulder. Sora looked at Tigger with a kind smile and a gentle look. He said, "Hey there Sora. It's been a long a time since we saw you in this neck of the woods." Piglet then came from right behind him. "Yeah, it seems like it's been forever since we saw you here. Have you heard about the race that's happening on Friday?" Sora nodded and then told the two that they were entering as well. Nearby, Victor was spying on them from a far distance. He was constantly observing Sora and how unique his relationships with the people around him. 'Such a weird kid that he is. Yet, I guess that was I was like as well growing up. No matter though, I better get going and get the group assembled.' With that Victor disappeared.

Sora then went up to Pooh to talk about with the information that Merlin had told him to ask Pooh. "So Pooh, A friend of mine said that you would know something about a guy named Victor. Do you have anything we could use?" Pooh shook his stubby little head. "I'm afraid not Sora. I haven't heard anything about anyone named Victor since he was a little boy. He was no bigger than me when he first visited us. We welcomed him with open arms and he helped us with any problems we had from Rabbit's gardening to finding some honey for me. It wasn't too long though that he said good-bye. I never did see him after that short brief moment. It seems like yesterday that we were just sitting on that hill watching the clouds go by." Sora saw that Pooh was sad and handed him a honey pot. "Here, it'll cheer you up. You always like honey." Eventually, Pooh took the honey pot and began eating out of it.

It wasn't long until the day when the race would finally begin. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and there were many creatures there from the hefflalumps to Gopher and his friends watching the race from the start of the checkered patch of dirt. Owl had the yellow flag in his wings that would commence the race and getting things rolling. In the match up, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Tidus, Yuffie, Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger were there and ready to race. Tigger then said, "Good luck you guys. May the best man or tigger win!" the group nodded and waited for Owl to give the signal. Owl stood on his feet and said, "On my signal. On your mark…" Everyone pushed their right foot into the ground. "…Get set…" they pushed the body upward to give more leverage. "…Go!!" The entire competition pushed off and were on their way.

The first path to go along was past Pooh's house. They ran around the place and then began climbing the tree to the other side. Tigger got lucky since he bounced so high that you'd need a microscope just to see where he went. The group went past a little dirt path leading off into the creek area. They noticed that the bridge was out and would have to head into the water in order to cross it. It was so shallow that was the same depth as a kiddie pool in Hotel. The current wasn't any laughing matter though. It was so strong that when Sora first stepped across it pushed him three feet to his right. Piglet was the first to cross it oddly enough. Although he was small, the current carried him ironically down the path to Rabbit's house. He grabbed onto a nearby vine and was on his way.

The group then went past Rabbit's house being careful that they didn't step over his crops. The group then traveled past Tigger's house making sure to avoid any booby trap that was laid out in front of his house. They varied in size and shape from ordinary holes in the ground to netting or anvils. Mickey was the first one to get past the route this time. He could jump as high as Tigger and had the keyblade with him to get rid of the anvils and netting that were around him.

The group found themselves on the old hill the old gang would always hang out for some peace and quiet. The river flowed through this tranquilant valley. The sun shone so bright you would a good pair of sunglasses just to gaze upon it. The group ran up the green lush hill and made a quick dash around the old oak tree that lay at the top of it. Sora was the victor this time around. He made some quick manoeuvres in the air by running up the tree and grabbing the highest branches to leap forward about ten or twenty feet.

Lucky he did do that because it not only put him in the lead by twenty five feet he was also less than thirty feet from Pooh's house. A familiar white hooded figure saw this and knew this shouldn't happen. Victor thought, 'That will never do. Sora doesn't even eat let alone need honey anyway. Pooh bear, it's time I get your wish come true.' With that he snapped his fingers quick and before anyone else knew it Pooh was on his way with quick speed and finished in first with flying colours literally. Mickey was placed third with Yuffie, then Tidus, Goofy and Donald as well as Tigger and Piglet in the final rushes.

"What a day. Honey and a good race sure make me tired." Sora took a quick minute to catch his breath. "Yeah it sure does." He smiled as well as the rest of the group in satisfaction. They all knew he deserved to win this more than anyone. They soon heard clapping coming from the checkered end. "Bravo Pooh!! You got all the honey you could ever ask for. Then again that's all you had on your mind.", Victor said. Sora and the others stared with discontent, except for Tigger, Pooh and Piglet. They didn't know about what Victor did in the other worlds just yet.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me. Here, consider this a little gift from me to you.", Victor said with a grin. He snapped his fingers and Riku appeared from a portal of light unconscious. Sora ran quick towards his unconscious friend with concern written all over his radiant face. "Riku!! Speak to me!!", the youth commanded. His face soon became mad with anger and poisoned with hate on his mind. "How could you do this? He's my best friend!!", Sora said. Victor couldn't help but get in a little chuckle. Sora then drew out his keyblade. "You think that this is funny? Cuz' I'm not laughing." Victor pulled down his hood and his grin faded. "Don't bother throwing threats you can't even back up. Your friend simply rushed into his doom when he faced the likes of me. Its because of his ignorance he lost and is in the state he's in now and soon you'll all be joining him!!" Victor exclaimed. He laughed a hard chuckle and disappeared in his light.

The group grabbed Riku and headed for the gate. Only Pooh and Sora were at the spot where they encountered Victor again. Then Pooh asked, "Why would he do this? The Victor I know would never threaten anyone in his path ever. He was always kind and put others before himself." Sora could again see the sorrow that befallen his little stuffed toy friend. "Don't worry Pooh. We're going to figure this out and bring him back to his senses. I promise that I will." Pooh and Sora nodded as he soon exited, but Pooh soon took hold of him. He said"I know it isn't much, but I got some news that could be useful in the future. Victor always did talk to me about something called the 'Sacred Protection'. It involves something he apparently has never felt before. That Sora is true love. For without it, the ancient defense as he called it can't be performed." Sora nodded and headed for the doorway. Pooh yet again grabbed his arm. "I would also like to give you this.", Pooh said. He gave Sora a honey pot. He said, "I know it's not much, but it's the least I could do since I will miss you so very much."

Sora then got a tear in his left eye that trickled down his soft youthful cheek. Pooh then reached up and parted the tear from his face. "Don't cry Sora. I don't like it when you're sad. Besides we'll see each other again. We're connected right here and in our hearts." Sora nodded and hugged Pooh with all his might. They both knew this wouldn't be the last time that they would see each other again. Pooh then gave Sora another page from the journal. Unfortunately the pages that Mickey and Sora found or received were already sections one and two. Yet Sora didn't care. He waved good-bye to Pooh and left through the golden gate.

Meanwhile, Leon and the others were tending to Riku. Cid finally came into the house to find everyone, including Sora who just got back, huddled around Riku. Cid of course had his southern accent and his English was choppy, but decent like herbal tea is as a decent drink. Cid then asked, "What happened? It looks like someone or somethin' knocked the stuffin' right out outta 'im." The others then looked to Cid then back at Riku. He was starting to come to. Sora then got a big smile on his face as well as a couple of tears to his face, but nothing more than that. Riku then laughed a little and said, "Hey, Sora you might want to pull it together man. You remind me of my neighbour's little brother when he's upset." Sora wiped the tears from his face and then helped Riku to his feet. He had obviously had a bad fight with the boy of light himself and his story was more than anyone ever could expect.


	10. Chapter 9: The Battle of the Coliseum

**The Battle of the Coliseum**

Flashback

The second Riku stepped through the portal he found himself in another world on its own. He found himself on top of a tower. Not just any tower either. It was that of the Disney princesses. He found himself on Snowwhite. Around her was a shade of green and her seven dwarves' pictures. The tower was surrounded in a giant cloud of endless darkness. He then heard an eerie voice. "I hope you like what I've done with the place. Its really quite improving since I stumbled upon this place." Riku then asked, "Where are you Victor? Come out, you can't hide forever." He laughed some more. "You're no different than Sora.", the voice said. Then a white hooded figure appeared in front of him. "You always look before you leap as well. In the end it will cost you." Riku drew out his keyblade of darkness.

"Where are we? How did we get here?", he asked. "Let me put it to you this way. We are in the exact place where Sora started his entire adventure.", He said. Then the entire floor broke into pieces carrying them both down to another this time with Cinderella on it. It had her magical carriage below her with a shade of blue around her as well as her mice companions all around her with her fairy godmother at the top. "He was here alright. Since his encounter here, he got encouraged to go exploring other worlds just like you and Kairi always wanted to.", Victor continued. He snapped his fingers and they reappeared on a floor with Aurora on it. She had a shade of pink around her as well as a distant castle behind her and thorns covering the bottom of the picture on the floor. "Since then all of you went on your little pathetic journeys around your galaxy, blissfully unaware of a greater essence that exists beyond you. You never even did think that there were others like you who had the power to help others when they needed it."

Riku shook his head. He then said, "Why are you telling me this?" Victor snapped his fingers. They reappeared on top of Belle. She had a shade of yellow around her with a couple of roses around the bottom as well. "You really want to know why. I'll tell you why. People like you beat a couple of enemies and suddenly think you're on top of the world. You feel invincible. And yet we are all human. We all have only one life. Once it's gone, there is no more that can be served from it. You and Sora are good examples of overconfident youths. I bet you don't even know why you have a keyblade." Riku didn't say a thing. Victor sighed and snapped his fingers. They found themselves on a pictured floor of Alice. She had a shade of purple and some cards with hearts, clubs, spades and diamonds in red and black surrounding her.

"It was the same for me. When I got my first powers, I didn't know why either. That's the trick with fate. It doesn't think about what it does when it selects a hero. It just happens simply because of what it chooses." Riku ran up to try and slice him. Victor evaded it with ease and caught him with chains of light cuffing his wrists and feet. "Don't get any ideas either. You're not going anywhere." He snapped his fingers and they found themselves on a floor with Ariel's picture on it. She had a shade of red around her with her father, Triton, Sebastian, and Flounder on her left and Ursula, Flotsam and Jetsam on her right.

"Fate my friend is what gave you the keyblade and then Sora as well as Mickey prior to you. They obviously have powers that I couldn't begin to understand, but in the essence of things you got the keyblade initially before you turned dark.", Victor said. He snapped his fingers and they found themselves on a floor with Jasmine's picture on it. It had a shade of orange and her palace in the background. The very bottom had the Cave of Wonders with a black lamp at the bottom while the top had a yellow lamp above Jasmine's head. Riku then said, "So then, fate chose me and Sora to go explore other worlds then?" the white figure nodded.

"Odd, but true nevertheless. You were selected single-handedly by fate as was I a decade ago in my universe to go explore my world and beyond. Now then I'm going to let you go. I got no reason to fight you. You are what I would call 'number two' in the rank of things fighting.", Victor said with a hinted laugh at the end. "Was that a joke? You obviously have never seen me fight. That my friend is a big mistake.", Riku said. Victor snapped his fingers and they appeared on a floor with Victor's image on it. It had nothing but white shading around it. At the bottom his shadow extended to the other end of the floor. The sky turned white as well. A barrier appeared around Riku and Victor.

Riku had been turned into his ultimate darkness form. He became Xehanort's heartless. Victor laughed. "I never could have expected this. You are my old colleague's heartless? That's rich my friend. No matter though, you're still no match for me." They soon did battle with each other. Riku attacked fast. Victor had so many scrapes, cuts and bruises that he could barely even stand up. Riku wasn't finished there yet. He punched him in the gut of his stomach and smashed him against his own barrier. He then kicked him in mid air and slashed him with his keyblade of darkness. Victor lay on the ground spewing up blood with his face torn up. Riku stepped on his stomach and stabbed his sword into the ground. He laughed in sheer delight. "You were saying about me being no match for you." Victor suddenly laughed. Riku got a frown with his eyebrows turned downward.

"What's so funny Victor?", Riku said. Victor pulled down his hood and snapped his index finger. He was magically healed. "I confess. I truly do. I wasn't even trying. I let you have the first move. Now it's my turn to tango." He disappeared in light and reappeared with sword of light. He slashed Riku and disappeared and then attacked to and fro. He sliced Riku's left arm and his right leg. He punched his right eye and bruised his left leg.

He punched his stomach gut like he did to Victor and he continued to attack from every direction like he did to Roxas. He shook his head and waved his index finger in the air. "Never underestimate your foe. If you have a chance to finish to finish him or her, then take it. Don't wait 'till the twelfth of never.", he said. Victor then punched Riku out cold.

Present

He then awoke inside Merlin's house to find the whole gang gathered around him as well as Sora right on top of him crying a little bit. Riku sat down quick still being injured from his encounter with Victor. Sora and the others couldn't believe that Riku was okay. Merlin said, "Such a strange turn of events. Victor could have destroyed you, but he didn't. Instead he gave you advice and taught you something more about the universe." Riku looked at his cripple hands. "I couldn't believe it myself. Even when I transformed into my dark form I still couldn't defeat him. Let alone I can't even remember how Victor did it." Everyone gasped. Mickey then said, "It's quite clear to me now." Sora stared at Mickey. "What is your magesty?", Sora said. Mickey said, "I knew his power was indescribable, but I never knew that he could defeat darkness with ease as well. My guess is that his older brother has power over complete darkness. Riku still has his good side at heart, which means even with his dark form he couldn't stand up to Victor when he used half of his power." The others looked confused.

"How do you know he only used half of his power your magesty?", Donald asked. "It's simple Donald. I've seen Victor fight before. I've seen it when he lived in Calgary. He was a devastating fighter along with his brothers. They all were powerful alone and together were unstoppable. This fight he had with Riku proves that we can't underestimate him ever again. He could easily take either one us on and still defeat us." Anastasia then took the honey pot from Sora.

"There is one way you could better prepare yourselves for Victor's full power. You must head to Olympus Coliseum. Once you reach Hercules' strength, you'll stand a better chance against him. It's very difficult I know, but you won't regret it once you give it a try." The group nodded and then Anastasia used the pot to open a gate outside. The gate had a Greek building symbol in the centre of it and it opened very slowly. The entire group of eight including Jiminy Cricket went into the portal.

They soon arrived in Olympus Coliseum. The building was so huge that its columns were the size of trucks. Sora, Donald and Goofy couldn't help, but remember all of the glorious times that they had with Hercules. They soon found him lifting a 50 ton weight over his head with ease. They also saw a schedule saying "Battle of the Coliseum" tomorrow at eight. Sora then said, "Hey Herc. How's your workout going?" Hercules dropped his weight to talk to his old-time friends.

"I'm just getting ready for the Battle of the Coliseum. It's a new tourist attraction here. People are coming from far and wide to watch. Very few people can compete. Unfortunately, there are only seven spots left as well. No one else has bothered to enter since it's such an exclusive competition." The group then went to sign their names up. Hercules looked at them with a weird look as they signed their names next to each spot. Sora smiled. He said, "Well since, there are a lot of spots left anyway." Hercules shook his head. "You have to register first you silly gooses!!" He chuckled as well as the rest of the group did too.

In the distance, Victor stood with a giant wearing a covered cloak. Victor said, "That's your target. The boy in the black clothing that has the keyblade is your target. Don't underestimate him. I can't stress that enough. He'll eat you up and spit you back out. That is if your not too careful." The figure stared at the other people. He asked, "What of the others?" Victor said, "Knock them out cold, or just simply trap them. They're not your main targets. Consider them more like a bonus prize." They both nodded and disappeared in a blinding light.

The group prepared themselves for a rough competition that was soon to occur. They trained in target practice, did a workout, played some sports like soccer or football, and they did some exercises to stretch their muscles and strain their biceps. Afterwards, they called a day went off to bed. Sora and Hercules couldn't sleep and stared up at the stars. "I guess you couldn't sleep either Sora?", Hercules asked. Sora nodded. "This competition seems to be the real deal. I can't wait until tomorrow." The both nodded in agreement and fell fast asleep.


	11. Chapter 10: An Old Friend Met Again

An Old Friend Met Again

The next day, everyone was training hard to get ready for the quarterfinals of the 'Battle of the Coliseum'. People came from far and wide to compete in these first of many games. They met many weird creatures as well, but weren't prepared for the visit they'd get from the next person they met. A woman in green armour with long hair and an Asian look to her approached Sora. It was Mulan. She gave him a light tap on his shoulder and observed as the young teen looked at Mulan and responded with a kind warm smile. "Hey Sora. It's been a while." He then nodded in agreement. "Yeah it has been a long time since we talked like this. I hope you're ready for this." Mulan agreed saying that the competition looked odd. They also met up with the Beast as well. He greeted Sora with a big warm hug. Behind him, was a smaller guy but he was scrawny and clearly a skeleton. It was Jack Skelington. They also saw a man in a loin cloth with long hair down to his neck. Tarzan had also come for the competition. Oddly enough Setzer also made an appearance at the stadium. The man in the brown overcoat also made his appearance and would face Setzer in the first round. He preferred to call himself Z-man. Setzer wanted to make a comeback in the tournaments and figured he would do here in Olympus Coliseum.

The whole group of competitors then saw two people who were like wet matches in a dark cave. One of them wore a striped shirt black over red stripes, his hand gloves had knives attached to each finger, he wore a black hat and his face was messed up and burnt looking. He could've easily been passed off as a leper. His pants didn't make him look any better either. They were black and torn up here and there. The other guy wore a hockey mask, had a torn up grey jacket, black shirt, as well as a dark pair of jeans and black shoes. He wore black gloves and the only thing that he had that was a light colour was a big rounded sword that he carried.

The Battle of the Coliseum was much different than any challenge that Sora and the others were ever in. First off they were split into two halves: The Marauders and the Majestics. Second, only one from each division could face off against the other in a long sudden death to determine the winner. Sora would be lucky if even half of his friends made it through. The competition was no pushover either. The match ups were as follows: On the Marauders, Sora vs. Goofy, Hercules vs. Riku, Mickey vs. Freddy, and Donald vs. Jason. On the Majestics, Tidus vs. Yuffie, Mulan vs. Beast, Jack vs. Tarzan, Setzer vs. Z-man. It wasn't long before matches soon got underway.

The first match was Sora vs. Goofy. Goofy shook Sora's hand and gave him a big hug. He then said, "Just to let you know there won't be any hard feelings in this matchup." Sora nodded. Sora said, "I know, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to fight either alright?" They shook hands again to seal the deal and soon the match begun. Goofy may have been a slow poke because he always carried a heavy shield, but he was as strong as they come. Sora got bruised up by his Turbo Tornado attack and then Goofy followed up with a Berserker attack. Sora landed on the ground and it looked like he wouldn't get up again. The announcer of the games said, "Oh no!! It looks like Sora's down for the count!! He has ten seconds to get up, or he's disqualified from the ring. 10…9…8…" Sora slowly gripped his fists and then made a swift recovery. "4…3…2…Woah, I didn't expect that at all. Ladies and Gentlemen Sora has just got up from an extreme beating!!" Sora called out his keyblade and swiped the air couple of times. 'Doesn't that guy know when to just shut up?', He thought.

Sora ran up and then attacked Goofy with his quick manoeuvring. He took a dash on his right, then his left and then finished Goofy with ease, once he got past his shield that is. Goofy landed on his back out cold. The announcer then said, "Goofy is unable to continue fighting. Sora will now advance to the semi-finals of his division!!" The crowd then cheered their hearts out. Even his own friends were throwing confetti in the air to show that he did a good job. Sora smiled and waved his hands in the air to show his appreciation. He then helped Goofy to his feet. Goofy was all torn up at his shorts and his vest and his hat was sliced in half down the middle as well. Sora said, "I'm sorry about the rough beating. I guess I don't know my own strength." Goofy brushed himself off and said, "Aw don't worry about it. It's not the first time that this has happened. You gotta start training though. I saw who you're up against. It's going to be between Hercules and Riku. You know how strong they are don't you?" He nodded and ran off to the training arena on the other side of the stadium.

He however spotted a familiar blue fire haired god in grey smoked clothing talking to the guy with the striped shirt and messed up face. Hades was apparently talking to him about his match up with Mickey and by the looks of his mad face he wasn't too happy. "Now then Freddy, listen up. I expect nothing less from you than victory. That is if you expect to ever leave my Underworld and see the light of day, you'll do what I want right?" He nodded. "When do I get to kill people? My blades are talking to me and they're calling out for the blood of those people in the crowds." Hades then shook his head. "Listen pal this is a tournament. You can't kill anyone here. It's against the rules not to mention in bad taste even for me. You'll get your chance when you win the tournament and squash Hercules or his little buddy with the keyblade. Kapesh? Besides you can't do anything unless you're on your own world." He nodded and then left for the arena.

A white hooded figure then appeared in front of Hades. Victor said, "So is everything going according to plan?" Hades said, "Oh yes. Don't worry about it. I got things completely under control. Freddy knows the consequences if he doesn't perform his task right." Victor pulled down his hood and smiled. "Excellent, with him and Jason on this world together they could really make things quite interesting if you catch my drift." Hades nodded. Victor then said, "Well I have to take off. My sources say that they just captured another planet. You'd best take care of things here. Otherwise, if Freddy and Jason don't do as they're told it's your butt that will be on the line." Victor disappeared in light and Hades disappeared in smoke, but oddly enough he dropped a piece of paper. It was a page to Anastasia's journal.

The match ups that day went by quickly. Hercules won against Riku, Freddy beat Mickey, and Jason beat Donald on the Marauder's side. On the Majestics, Yuffie beat Tidus, Beast beat Mulan, Tarzan beat Jack, and Z-Man beat Setzer. Sora got back in time to see Setzer get pulled on a stretcher. Sora asked Riku who saw the match, "What happened here?" Riku said, "That Z-Man is quite a character. First he doesn't move when the match starts up and lets Setzer waste his energy attacking him and the next thing you know he froze Setzer's legs and then attacked him from there in a simple knockout." Sora then felt something grab his shirt. It was Setzer's right hand tugging at him. "Sora…I'd never thought I'd see you here at all. That Z-Man is cheating. I know he is. If you do face him in the finals, thrash him. Okay?" Sora nodded and Setzer then got a slight grin on his face as he fainted and got carried away by the stretcher.

The next day, the match ups were as followed: On the Marauders, Sora vs. Hercules and Freddy vs. Jason. (Weird déjà vu, remembering that movie.) On the Majestics, Beast vs. Tarzan and Yuffie vs. Z-Man. Sora was hard at work training for his next match and Hercules had just stopped by. Hercules then tapped Sora's shoulder and said, "I'd be careful around Freddy and Jason from now on. Something's not right about them." Sora then got a mad look on his face. "That's because they're not fighting for the fun of it." Sora then told Hercules of what he had seen and Victor's plans. Hercules then said, "That's terrible. How could someone do such a thing to innocent people? Even if Freddy and Jason are from Hades' Underworld, that's still not fair to them." Sora nodded in agreement. "My only shot is if I can convince both of them that they don't have to do this to get out of the Underworld." Hercules then nodded and went back to his training.

Later around noon, Sora's match against Hercules soon began. Hercules pumped up his muscles while Sora ran circles around him to try and distract him. Hercules soon caught on and punched him into submission. Sora then got up and tried with all of his might to breach through that muscle and iron. Nothing worked. Even when he transformed into his master form it didn't do anything. Hercules just bounced every attack Sora had right back at him. Hercules then said, "Oh come on Sora. You can do better than that. I mean if you want to help out Freddy and Jason, you're going to have to have better reflexes." Sora then thought, 'Better reflexes he says. That's it.' He then got a big grin on his face. Hercules puzzled by this then asked, "What's so funny?" Sora then said, "You just gave me an idea." Sora then slashed Hercules at his legs and ducked when his fists aimed for his face. He kept slashing his legs until Hercules couldn't bear it anymore. As he collapsed he said, "Me and my big mouth!!" With that the big brute fell onto the ground with a big menacing earthquake like motion to match it. He nearly landed on top of Sora as he escaped by the skin of his teeth. The announcer said, "Hercules is unable to continue fighting. Sora's on his way to the finals!!" The whole crowd cheered with all of their might at this astonishing turn of events. They even threw candy to show their appreciation for Sora as did his friends do that as well. Sora yet again waved his hands into the air and smiled with glee.

He helped Hercules to his feet and apologized to him as he did with Goofy. Hercules then said, "It's alright Sora. The better man won this fight and the due fact you responded quickly to my comment is a good sign that you're coming close to matching my strength. Of course then again I did help you out with that last piece of advice." They both laughed at that comment like it was a joke at a bar. Hercules then said, "Anyway, I'll be rooting for you in the stands. Watch your back alright? Freddy and Jason are tough cookies and I guarantee that against either one of them you're going up against tough competition." Sora nodded and then left back for the training arena to prep himself for his next match up.

Meanwhile, in the stands Z-Man was sitting down and observing the next match ups closely. A white hooded figure appeared beside him. Victor then said, "You'd better get ready for your next match. You're up in an hour and a half." Z-Man nodded and left his seat for the exit. Victor then said, "Oh Z-Man!!" Z-Man turned around to see the white hooded boy among a huge crowd of cheering fans. Victor yelled, "Make sure that you don't take Sora for granted. He has more power than you can imagine. Also make sure that when you get a chance, report all of the research you do in the finals if he should make it that far. I don't want to overlook any minor details what-so-ever." Z-Man nodded and left for the exit. Victor snapped his fingers and disappeared in a white portal.

The match ups that day went by just as quickly as the others did before that. On the Marauders, Jason beat Freddy (with a little assistance from Z-Man). On the Majestics, the Beast beat Tarzan, and Z-Man beat Yuffie. Unfortunately, Sora yet again witnessed the same trauma as yesterday with Setzer. He ran up to Yuffie and asked her what happened. She said, "That guy froze my legs first off and then punched my gut twenty times until I spewed blood from my throat. Then to make matters worse he slammed me to the ground so hard I broke my right leg bone. It hurts pretty bad, but I can handle it." Sora then looked at Yuffie with discontent and concern. He then perked himself up and said, "No worries. I'll take care of this guy. You just worry about feeling better alright?" Yuffie nodded and smiled. She then grabbed his right hand. "You know its kind of funny. That's what Kairi said about you when I met her for the first time. She always said that you were such a sweet heart. You always put others first before yourself. I'm glad that there's still a person like you in this world." With that she fainted and was carried away. Sora blushed at the fact that Kairi said this. It reminded him of why he was out on this journey in the first place.

Donald, Goofy and the others then surprised him. Riku said, "Hey man. If you're not too careful, people like us could make fun of you and you're red face." Sora gasped and covered his red apple coloured cheeks. Everyone around him laughed with Riku as Sora stood there timid and confused as always. Meanwhile, a white hooded figure was overlooking the gang from the empty stands. Victor saw this and said, "What a good bunch of buds he has. It kind of reminds me of my friends back home. Especially Xehanort, when he wasn't so sinister. Good times are never hard to find though." With that he disappeared in light.

The next day, Sora was prepping himself for his next match against Jason. He knew that Jason wouldn't go easy on him in the next match. He also knew he had to improve his reflexes as best as he could.

A few hours later, his match up with Jason began. Sora ran right at Jason while he just stood there waiting for an attack to come right at him. Sora sliced up his jacket into a million pieces, still he stood there. That is until Sora hit his mask. After that Jason started attacking and hitting Sora's keyblade with his sword. Sora then stood his ground and said, "It doesn't have to be this way Jason. You can get out of the Underworld a different way. You don't need Hades. What you need is a friend." Jason dashed right at Sora only ripping his shirt up at his chest. "Listen kid. This has got nothing to do with you. If I had brains I would just start fighting if I were you." Sora then transformed into his Master Form to fight off Jason. "If you can't listen to what I'm telling you I guess I have no choice then. It's too bad though. You're too good of a fighter to be doing this." Sora and Jason soon went all out on each other. It was even neck and neck. Sora made a dash and an original slice and dice, Jason made a dash and launched some attacks at him as well. The match up went for two hours straight and they were still determined to keep going. Sora then said, "You're a good fighter you know that? I've seen someone who was that focussed." Jason nodded but kept his distance."

"Yeah well that's what you do when you're a serial killer. You have to be on your feet at all times. Cops can come from all over just to shoot lead into your body." Sora was a little surprised at this, but knew he met much weirder shady characters over his little journey. Sora said, "It doesn't matter though. I don't care if you were adopted by mole rats. What I do care about is helping you out. Because that's what people do for each other. They help each other out not expecting a reward or glory." Jason oddly enough agreed with Sora even though it wasn't his character.

Jason then fell to the ground with no regrets. The announcer then said after ten seconds, "That's it!! Jason is unable to continue which means our new and first ever Marauder champion is Sora!!!" The crowd cheered and some of the girls threw roses to Sora with their phone numbers attached as well as their names. Sora blushed a little bit, but perked up a smile and waved to the audience as he helped Jason to his feet. Jason then said, "Looks like you have a lot of fans. I'll have to consider doing something like this. Or at least if I get around to getting a different hobby." Sora smiled, but saw that Freddy jumped onto the ring. Freddy said, "Hey punk. You and I got a score to settle!!" With that a white portal appeared leading back to Freddy's/Jason's world. Sora stepped forward to fight him, but a hand touched his chest in a form of protection. "It's odd. You're the only person besides my mom, I have a want to listen to. So I'm repaying you the favour. I'll take him on. I know we'll figure out a way to get me out of Hades. If I do, I promise that I'll bring you back something from my world. It's my way of saying thanks." Sora nodded and watched as Jason tackled Freddy taking him into the portal as it closed behind them.

'Take care Jason. I know there's some good in you. You just have to look harder.', Sora thought. Afterwards, Sora saw that the Beast lost to Z-Man as well, but was still up and walking. Sora figured that the beast didn't take too much of a beating from Z-Man in the end. The Beast then said, "Sora. Be careful against him. He's nothing like any other person I've ever met. He's swift and he has the power of ice at his finger tips. Watch your back!!" Sora nodded and ran off to train for a few hours anyway. The finals would begin at about 7:00 p.m. and he had to be at his peak form.

Victor then appeared to Hades in his Underworld to discuss the matter of Jason and Freddy. Victor said, "Deal's a deal Hades. You didn't take the situation into consideration and now that killer is friends with Sora. Hope you like to swim. Cuz I'm putting you back in the Nealstrom whirlpool where you belong." Hades was sucked into the very trap Victor helped him escape from and with that he disappeared again.

7:00 soon arrived and Sora was pumped up. He was soon circled by friends old and new alike to give him some good advice before he went up against Z-Man. Sora then said, "Thanks guys. I appreciate it. I don't where I'd be if you guys weren't there cheering me on." Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Tidus, Riku, Beast, Jack, Tarzan, Mulan and Jiminy Cricket said good luck and went to their seats in the main stadium. Sora then went to the locker room to wash up. Meanwhile, Victor found Z-Man and gave him advice of his own. Victor then said, "You see now the strength that he possesses. I wouldn't underestimate him now if I were you. Victor is no pushover. I guarantee he won't be giving you any chance to attack if you're not too careful." Z-Man then said, "Understood my liege." With that Victor left Z-Man as he entered the ring for the final match.

Sora and Z-Man then began fighting each other for the Battle Coliseum Cup that was waiting in the stands for one of them. Their trophies for being the Majestics' and Marauders' Champions were in a private vault on either side of the trophy. Either way, Sora made the first move slashing at Z-Man's legs, then he went after his head. However, before he could do anything, Z-Man grabbed Sora by the neck and punched his gut ten times and then slammed him into the ground. Z-Man then tackled Sora with his hard muscular body and froze his arms, legs and neck to the ground. He laid there injured and beat up. The crowd gasped and Sora's friends were going crazy over this. Mickey then thought, 'This guy sure is powerful. He didn't even put any effort into taking Sora down at all. You better hang in there buddy.' Riku then took a close at Z-Man. Riku thought, 'Something's not right about him. Even when he froze Sora to the ground it didn't look natural. He has to be getting help somehow. That cheater!! Hang in there Sora!!' Z-Man then said, "How pathetic. Some one like you should know better than to make the first move while underestimating your opponent. It is a deadly weakness only fools and amateurs make. You're neither because of your stupidity." Sora then closed his eyes as he awaited the finishing blow.

Yet Sora heard a voice from somewhere. It was Jason. 'Come on, Sora. You have the power to beat this guy in your sleep. Don't give up.', Jason's voice said. Sora then said, 'How can I fight him? He's too strong and I'm out of ideas.' Jason then said, 'You know a lot of the guys I've met over the years always found some cheap way of winning in the end and the only it took was a little guts. Show me your guts Sora. Show me your guts!!' Sora then yelled and he transformed.

Z-Man then said, "What? How is this possible?" The whole crowd went speechless as they saw Sora transform and with it he wore golden armour as well as a golden crown. Victor was in the shadows and witnessed this as well. He thought, 'He's even more powerful than they all realize. It won't be long now Sora. It won't long now!!" He then disappeared. Sora approached Z-Man with confidence and even when he shot ice at him, he didn't stop. He then became two feet away from him and just stared at him. Sora then asked with a slight ripple in his voice, "So you think I'm pathetic now?" Z-Man shook his head. "Obviously you had help. Otherwise I would've finished you by now. You may have won this time Sora. However, this isn't over yet. We will meet again and when we do, I'll be the one who gets all the glory." With that he stepped out of the ring and left the stadium. The announcer then said, "Z-Man has left the ring which means he's disqualified. Sora has won the cup!! I repeat, Sora has won the first official Battle Coliseum Cup!!"

Fire works soon blew into the air and roses as well as confetti were flying everywhere as people cheered and as well as Sora's friends came down to congratulate him. Hercules then opened up Sora's hands and gave him a shard of sapphire and a page for Anastasia's journal. He then said, "It's my own way of saying thanks for everything. You've always come to this place with a good attitude and personally I don't know how to repay you, except with this." Sora then gave Hercules a hug. "It doesn't matter. You've always been a friend to me and that's just what I'm going to do." They both laughed as well as the entire group did too while hoisting the Battle Coliseum Cup and watching the fire works in the night sky. Tarzan, Mulan, Jack and The Beast soon said their good-byes and took the next space shuttle back to their worlds.

Sora and the others soon returned, after Yuffie healed of course, to find that everyone in Merlin's house was panicking. Riku asked, "What's going on here? You guys are more tense than my dad is when he goes off to work." Leon stopped to catch his breath. "Of course we are you guys. The entire place is crawling with heartless and some weird plastid things." Sora then asked, "Plastid Things?" Leon then said, "There's no time to explain. We must hurry to Ansem's computer room.

When they finally arrived the group saw Cid and Aerith monitoring Radiant Garden and the heartless and plastid creatures that were roaming about free. Leon asked, "How's the situation?" Cid then said, "It looks bad by the looks of things. Everyone's left town cuz those things are wrecking up the place." Sora then saw Anastasia and gave her the sapphire shard Hercules gave them. Anastasia then summoned up a cybernetic looking gate with a plastid frog looking creature as a symbol for the gate. Sora then gave Leon the page and went inside the gate along with everyone else. Cid said, "This looks real bad. Now those things are headed to the computer room judging by movements from the monitor." Aerith then said, "Then we'll have to buy Sora and the group some time if they're going to fix this." Leon, Merlin, Anastasia, and Cid nodded and took any weapon they could find as a group of heartless and plastid creatures soon made their way into the main room where they were sitting now.


	12. Chapter 11: EchoPlast

EchoPlast

The group landed in a place different than any other they've ever been to. First off, the entire place was nothing, but canyons or rock and let alone the entire landscape was purple. What was more bizarre, there was no sign of life anywhere at all. It seemed that place there were on was just a dead dessert. Sora said, "Man this place is the life of the party. It makes the Pride Land savannah look like paradise. Jiminy, do you have any idea what this place is called?" Jiminy Cricket responded, "From the data I've been collecting, apparently the people of Radiant Garden calls this place Proteus. The only thing that lives here are the plastid creatures that Leon was talking about."

Riku then said, "I guess that's why they're so eager to leave this place. I would if lived here all my life." Mickey said, "Regardless, something's bringing these creatures into Radiant Garden and we have to figure out what it is." The group nodded and headed deeper into the dark canyon to investigate.

There they saw a huge ship go down while getting lit up in flames. On the horizon they saw a slim teen with brunette hair and he had plastid stuff all over him. It was blue around his back and neck and parts of his knees and winged cape. It was yellow on a majority of his body and he was quite scrawny. He approached Sora and his friends with caution until he was only a few feet away from them. The young teen then said, "Who are you? Plastids or troops of black creatures sent by Paavo?" Sora and the others looked at each other and didn't know what they could say at first.

Then they told him who they were and about the heartless and plastids that Paavo must've been using in his world and Radiant Garden. The young teen then said, "Oh I'm sorry, where are my manners. I'm Nevin." Sora then said, "Cool. I'm Sora, this is Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Tidus, and Yuffie. Pleased to meet you Nevin." Nevin then ran off. Sora asked, "Where are you going?" Nevin said, "I have to get to the launch site. Our commander Stome as well as his co-pilot Arana said that it might be our only chance of getting off this planet. Who knows? There might be something there you can use to fight off the plastids and these 'heartless' as you call them as well."

The group nodded and went off Nevin across a straight path of endless canyons and bottom less gorges whilst walking on narrow cliffs to boot. This place was anything but inviting and yet that wasn't what everyone was concerned about. They heard Nevin talking to someone, but couldn't hear who he was talking to. They automatically assumed that he was talking to himself. Riku then told Sora, "Looks like this guy is a few tissues short of one Kleenex box, if you catch my drift." Sora then looked at Riku with discontent. "Now that's not very nice Riku. I think that if we give him a chance he might tell us why he talks to himself. He's got to have a reason right?" Riku nodded and then everyone else continued to the launch site.

They finally met up with a tall man in a blue suit at the launch site. He looked to be a man of over forty at least having brunette hair at the top and white hair around his side burns and he had a southern accent. It was Stome. The place looked empty and devoid of any thing that was holding it captive. It was a very strange sight to see because Paavo had the entire planet crawling with heartless and plastid creatures. They saw Stome try to board the ship, as well as Arana in the centre of the circular pad where the controls were for the ship's launch sequence. Arana also wore blue suit like Stome, but it was a much smaller size and mucher scrawnier than his or Nevin's suit. She had luscious blonde hair and sky blue eyes. What's more they also saw a white hooded figure appear and capture Arana. Arana said, "Let me go you creep!!" Victor tightened his grip and said, "I wish I could love, but business is business and I have a lot to do. So don't make this any harder than it has to be."

Nevin then saw this and said, "You'd better let her go punk. Or else we'll tango." Victor shook his head. "Too bad Romeo. As much as I'd like to fight you and your buddies, it looks like you got company." He then disappeared and some purple figures of an old man appeared. Nevin then said, "Paavo. I should've known you wouldn't come in your good glory. Instead you made copies of yourself." Paavo's purple clones then said, "It's quite a shame really. You all couldn't possibly begin to understand what I hold in the palm of my hands. I have the key to ending all natural process of elimination as well as survival of the fittest and here you al stand poised to fight." Sora then said, "Well Nevin, if he's really as bad as you say he is, we'll help you out."

The group then fought six clones at once. They were all relatively easy to follow, but they had a shard of Paavo's power which made them super strong. Eventually they beat the clones, but at a price. Nevin was badly injured. Sora then said, "I'll carry you Nevin." Nevin then said, "No, I couldn't do that Sora. I don't want to be a burden." Sora shook his head. "You got a lot to learn about friendship. I'll do it anyway. Consider it a way of me being a nice guy wanting to help you guys out of free will." Nevin nodded and then got on Sora's back and relaxed as Sora carried him. Stome got out of the launch entrance and noticed something odd about the aircraft. Stome said, "Well that's just fine. The engine just blew its fuse!!" Nevin gasped. Nevin then said with as much strength as he could, "Without that engine we're sitting ducks here."

Stome then came up with an idea. Stome said, "I guess there's only place where we can get a spare engine." Sora then asked, "Where can we go then? We could help you guys." Stome then stared up into the night sky. "It's not that simple though. The only place we can get a spare is at Paavo's Citadel. It's constantly patrolled by his plastid army as well as the heartless. If that's not enough, He also has his number two Kess leading the main core of his troops as well as his top general Gherran leading the bigger plastid creatures. Both of which are more powerful than you can imagine. You folks should better follow my advice and think before you leap." The group knew it would be tough, but if it would get them off this planet and stop Paavo it was worth a little risk or two.

Then they set off. It seemed like an eternity that the group had been traveling along a dangerous Cliffside from the launch site. They had to fight thousands of angry patrol units just to make over bottom of the canyon and up to the top where Paavo's Citadel was located. Yet they finally made it and they gazed upon his behemoth like headquarters in awe and with concern. Stome asked, "Why do I get the feeling that we're being watched?"

How right he was. A couple of feet above them a purple plast clothed woman with pale white skin and brunette hair was sitting on the lower balcony of the place spying on the group. The woman said, "Okay, Gherran. Now is your chance to take these guys on. Make sure that none of them return alive." Gherran responded saying, "Yes Ma'am. I won't let ya down."

The group managed to enter the main entrance when suddenly a big guy in yellow plast clothing had appeared. He looked like he was a giant astronaut and he looked to be about Stome's age or younger by a slim two or three years. He also didn't look too bright because as he came down he tripped over his own two feet. This was Gherran, seven feet of muscle and terror in the making. Gherran said, "Alright youze guys. Put up your dukes. I got orders to take youze all out. I'm not leaving empty handed." Mickey then ran up. "Perhaps you could go home empty headed instead!!" The group chuckled a little when they heard that joke.

Gherran then said, "Oh a wise guy eh? Well we'll see who's funny after I scrape you from the bottom of my foot mouse!!" Sora then ran up, but was blocked by Mickey. Mickey said, "You guys better head for Paavo's head office. I'll take care of Gherran." Sora then said, "I won't leave you behind." Mickey shook his head and said, "Sora, you have to. I'm saying forever, just for now anyway. You and Nevin as well as Riku are our last line of defense." Sora nodded and reluctantly left the king to fight the big brute all on his own.

The group travelled up at least four to six floors before finally making it to his head office. They heard a faint voice say, "Kess. I'm sorry. Things got out of hand down here. Things are getting darker…" With that the voice fainted and they heard something get destroyed. It was a communication's device. On top of it was a long boot belonging to the same woman. Nevin then said, "Kess, I should've known you'd be behind this." Kess then laughed and said, "You got a lot of guts. Even injured you still manage to piss me off a lot. After I cut all of you up I might stay awhile and kick the remains around a little." Nevin then got to his feet.

Stome then asked, "You sure you want to do that son?" Nevin nodded. "I have to Stome. It's the only way we'll get off this planet and it's the only way we'll get Arana back." Stome nodded and watched as a barrier appeared in front of him and Kess. The group couldn't help Nevin now. Kess may have been weak, not being a man and having natural muscle and all, but she was sleek and quicker than Nevin and with his injuries slowing him down, Nevin was getting cut up like a turkey dinner.

The group kept telling Nevin to never give up and when all things looked bleak, Sora then ran into the barrier and pierced it. He then transformed into that golden form he took on before at Olympus Coliseum. Kess held Nevin at his throat and was about to make the finishing blow. She looked at the golden boy that stood to her left then as well. Kess then said, "Well this doesn't change a thing. I'm still gonna cut you up. Yet, now I got a bigger prize to conquer."

Sora then fought Kess blow for blow and attack for attack. Things were evened up now. Yet Sora wasn't even getting warmed up and Kess slowly started to tire. Most likely this was because she fought Nevin with all of her strength and didn't expect Sora to intervene. Sora then slashed her and she fell to her knees. "I…can't believe it…I lost to a bunch of kids!!" Sora then helped Nevin to his feet and asked if he was alright. Nevin said, "I'm alright. But that's not important now. What is important is that we stop Paavo's tyranny right now. He was planning to sent out rockets to every planet in the universe and wiping out mankind in our universe and yours, Sora. He said he would go to any length to do it." Kess then fell to the ground and dissolved into dust in the wind.

With that happening, a smaller figure appeared from the shadows. Mickey had survived. One of his sleeves was cut, but he still felt like a million bucks. Stome then asked Nevin, "How do you know all this?" Nevin then responded, "Let's just say that a friend has been helping us the entire time." He couldn't tell anyone that the very planet they stood on was alive sentient being and was also the very suits that Paavo, Kess, Gherran and Nevin wore as well. His name was Echo.

The group then entered into the head office of Paavo and stood their ground. Paavo was a relatively short man about the size of Nevin, looked to be about sixty having white hair and a couple of wrinkles here and there. Paavo then said with a light British accent, "Oh come now!! There's no reason for us to be quarrelling." Sora then said, "Oh really? Why not tell that to your little friends trying hurt innocent people everywhere you coward!!" Paavo then exclaimed, "Silence!! Now if you all want to challenge me so badly I accept. The boy with white hair, the mouse, the boy with spunk and light brown hair as well as you Nevin are allowed to come challenge me. The rest will have to wait. You'll get your chance to join them were you'll all be going."

Paavo then took Sora, Nevin, Riku, and Mickey to a very dark place and Paavo entered a plast mechanism that was ten feet in length and height. It had two arms and was purple in colour all over. The group then started fighting Paavo with all they had. It proved to do nothing in the end. His machine had all of Nevin's powers as he kept transforming from a small frog creature to a big giant with a blue gun.

Even when Sora transformed he couldn't even scratch Paavo. It looked like the end. Then a white hooded figure appeared and slashed Paavo's machine many times to bring down its power. Sora and the others saw who it was and couldn't believe their eyes. Then Victor said, "Don't think this changes anything. Paavo isn't on my side and besides, he's a pest anyhow. So now is your chance. Destroy him now."

With that Victor disappeared and the others soon fought Paavo again. This time however, Paavo fell and his machine blew away into dust. Paavo began dissolve as well. He then said, "Curse you all…You will meet your end…I guarantee it!!" He then dissolved away and was nothing. Nevin then said, "If anything it won't be by you any time soon." The group reappeared inside Paavo's office and noticed the plastid creatures and heartless stop moving and start to rot and become moldy. Although the group was grossed out, they knew that the deed was done. Sora on the other hand couldn't help but wonder why Victor did what he did. He thought, 'Why would he help us? I knew I wasn't seeing things on Ant Island and he helped us out there with Hopper's henchmen. So why would he do it?' Nevin then said, "Hello Earth to Sora." Sora then snapped out of his daydream while everyone giggled a little at him. Nevin then said, "I want to say thanks for your help. Not only did we beat Paavo, but my friend told me that he's free now. Stome and I can leave this place too while we're at it. Not only that, but you taught me about friendship in the long run. Even when I was injured you carried me all the way here. The only thing I have to repay with is this."

Sora was handed two pages from Anastasia's journal and a shard of ruby. The group said their goodbyes and then left Proteus. Sora and his group then saw Leon and Merlin expecting them in the distance. Leon then said, "Good to see you back. Now then we got some things to talk about." Merlin then said, "We've figured out how to harness the keyblade's energy. Not only that, but we've figured out more info. about Victor too." The group sat down awaiting what tale that they would offer them next.


	13. Chapter 12: A New Power

A New Power

In Merlin's House, it wasn't too long of a discussion, but Leon and Merlin stumbled onto something very important. Leon said, "You guys might want to listen to these next few pages. You might learn a thing or two that we haven't caught onto. We could only do so much research from the pages." So everyone sat down once again resting and listening to what Anastasia wrote a long time ago.

"Section Six: Growing Up

It isn't easy. I had a hard time leaving daddy and mommy, now an angel, to the ocean planet of Saryu. Daddy was upset that I was leaving, but he felt that if I went to school on this planet I could truly become spiritual and learn all I could about my powers. All angels from my planet leave for this place to go to school learning the dark arts in case we meet demons and the magic of light to defend the residents of our planet. Daddy says there I can learn all I can about the Sacred Protection and what needs to occur for it to happen.

So far it has been a whole year. I've finished my first year of school and have made some really great friends. The boys at school are always trying to ask me out and I should go out with them right? I mean they're really cute and nice to my friends and me as well. Yet I just couldn't help, but say no. I had so many feelings for that boy. That timid brunette. Oh how I wish I could see him again, but I have to stay here for about a decade until I'm ready. I wish it wasn't this complicated.

I may as well have to accept it. There's a very slim chance I'll see him again anyway. Besides he might just forget me. By the looks of his long ventures around the world with his brothers he seems happy and content without me."

The others noticed noticed a wet spot on the page. It seemed as though it were a tear of some sort. Sora looked at Anastasia with a look of concern. He said, "You poor girl. You had to live like that everyday. I guess Kairi was in the same boat. She always missed me when she went to school and Riku too. Maybe that's why Victor keeps saving us. It's because you're with us and we make you happy."

Leon then continued with the next page. He looked at Sora who had a trickle of a tear in his right eye. He said, "Hey Sora, you alright?" Sora gasped and wiped his eyes and cheeks as best he could. Everyone chuckled knowing what was going through his head. Anastasia knelt down to Sora's sitting level. She smiled and closed her eyes. She said, "It's alright Sora. I mean I was only a little girl then. I didn't even know what would to either Victor or me." Sora then smiled and said, "I guess, it just seems like you had the rough end of the stick. That's all." Leon then said, "As much as this is touching, we have to move on. There's a lot of info. in here that we must find in here. So pay attention."

"Section Seven: Another Year, Another Life

It's been four years now since I left my home on Ailiana. Saryu is a nice place, but I wasn't raised here. Even with all the nice people I meet, it's not the same. I feel like a different person than I was as a little girl. Classes are getting harder and my marks tend to vary up and down. On the other hand though, my teachers say that I'm doing quite well. In fact they even say that I'm an honours student this year. Mom and Dad we'll be happy to hear that.

Things are getting harder I admit. Yet that's how things are. I must've been on weird kid trying to be with a guy I should've known would do alright without me. Irony is I just learned what the Sacred Protection is. According to what the professors say, it is an ancient power that is so impenetrable by mere brute force. It can only be active through a strange energy that develops when someone's lover or loved on is in danger. It appears in the form of armour. Colour always varies on the personality of the user, but it's all the same. The power is unique and will only work if there's true love between two people."

Leon paused for a moment. He said, "Apparently we also found out that that sacred power can also be activated in different ways from the use of 'love' in the text. It usually varies, like the colour on the armour, on the person and their abilities." Merlin then added, "Yet that is how we can harness the power of the keyblade to its true potential." Sora then stood up and said, "You know I had something like that happen to me. It was on Olympus Coliseum, they had a special event called the 'Battle of the Coliseum' and I made it all the way to the finals." (Flashback of his fight with Z-Man)

'The moment Z-Man had me frozen on the ground all I could think about was rescuing Kairi. I knew it would rest until I did just that.' Leon and the others gasped a little. Riku then said, "That explains everything then. At first when he did it I thought it was just a coincidence, but he did it again when we were on Proteus." (Flashback of the fight with Kess)

'It looked bad. We were a couple of feet from Paavo, the man who was sending the heartless and plastid creatures into Radiant Garden. A woman named Kess challenged on of our buddies, Nevin. Unfortunately, he was injured badly from a previous fight so he was getting creamed by her and somehow Sora broke through the she put up and transformed again seeing his friend in danger.' Sora couldn't disagree with that.

Leon then shook his head. He said, "This is unbelievable. That means you, Riku, and the king have the ability to do it too." Merlin scratched his beard for a moment. "Maybe we should read on. You never know where a weakness could lye right?" Leon nodded and continued to read.

"Section Eight: Graduation

Life couldn't be any better for me. Tomorrow I can officially graduate and return home to Ailiana. It'll be great. I can get back home. I can see my family again. Best of all, maybe just maybe, he'll remember. It's a crazy thought though. I mean it's been under a decade and he's in high school like I am. There's no way he could possibly remember.

It's too bad. I just got a letter from Dad. He said that I may need a little more training to truly understand this Sacred Protection. I don't understand why, but Dad somehow thinks I still don't quite get the concept of it. He must think that there's a weakness or something.

Oh well. I should may as well not question him too often. He is the king of Ailiana after all and he knows more about the planet's secrets than I do. He was the first person to use the Sacred Protection. It saved my mother's life and the whole planet of Ailiana as well. I'd better get some sleep. I don't want to be drowsy for my grad and all."

The group didn't know how to approach this at all. It didn't seem like there was any clue to this at all. Sora then remembered all the times that Victor was talking about him being naïve or foolish. He then started to connect the dots bit by bit. He then said, "I think I get it now. Victor was right. I'm not nearly as powerful as I think I am. I don't even have half the strength he has. That's why he's been taunting us. We are not that powerful at all." The group couldn't argue with him there. Leon then said, "Although it is kind of obvious that you're not as powerful it still is a good clue that slipped our grasp. Sora, thanks to you we just figured something out from this. Every time he has appeared you always let your emotions get the best of you. Once you do that, you open up your weaknesses as well. Although it still doesn't quite explain why Victor, as you told a few times, would help you guys out."

Sora looked confused. He asked, "What do you mean Leon?" Leon then said, "I mean that Victor wouldn't help you guys out though. Just because we make Anastasia happy, doesn't mean that he doesn't want power in his wake. If it means getting rid of anyone who gets in his way he won't care. That's why I'm saying that he wouldn't just simply help you guys out just because he cares. What about Maleficent? You told us she saved you just so you could get rid of Organization XIII. The same situation applies. He wants something special from you guys and will go to any extent to get it."

Merlin stared at something beside the Hundred Acre Wood Gate. Riku looked at Merlin and then asked, "What you looking at Merlin?" Merlin said, "Something caught my eye behind the gate. I think I'll investigate for a little bit." Merlin looked at the gate and noticed it was a small piece of paper. It was one that belonged in Anastasia's journal. Merlin then said, "Well that wasn't that hard at all. A page was right here all along and we just kept bypassing it the whole time." Leon then said, "It doesn't really matter though Merlin. The point is we have a page and that could still give us a clue as to what Victor is planning yet. I got a strange feeling the next two pages are going to point us in just that direction." Leon then continued to read. He caught a slight glimpse of Anastasia looking the other way and knew something wouldn't be right about it.

"Section Nine: The Sacred Protection

It has been over a year since I graduated. Dad has been training me himself to learn about our world and the universe we inhabit. He's taught me everything from war to human feelings. I would always ask him why he is telling me this. He always kept telling me it's because I'm a princess and should know about these things. Yet I still think there's more he isn't trying to tell me. It's something about me most likely. Could it be he knows that I still have feelings for Victor? Is he testing my love for him by telling all there is to know about him and the universe? I really can't say at this point. Every thing I've come to know has been all, but clear to me since I left for Saryu five years ago.

I still can't quite figure all of this out. Dad finally comes to tell me why he's been telling me all this and gives me a headache thinking about it instead. He first tells me that my love for Victor is just a simple crush and it may or may not last a long time then he starts telling me about the Sacred Protection, should I ever feel the need to go looking for him.

The Sacred Protection as he describes is an act of love for one's lover and their loved one. Yet the power of it is all temporary. He then tells me that in order to make it permanent for the user to call upon any time he or she wishes, they would have to brave the challenges of light, darkness, and balance. Whatever it is, it sure was confusing. I couldn't make heads or tails of what he was telling me. He told me that he did this a long time ago before him or mom ever met. He was a simple apprentice to his Grandfather. He also told me that some angels, like Grandpa, if they should get so powerful they can choose to go to the Nether Realm.

It apparently is a place of endless paradise and darkness living under one invisible roof. People on Victor's planet could refer to this as the abstract thought of the heart. There's light and darkness in every heart. How one chooses to use it is very uncertain.

That was also the very first time since I left for Earth that I saw Dad cry. He asked me if I knew what the purpose of the Sacred Protection was. I shook my head. He sighed and then told me it didn't matter and that we would have a cup of hot cocoa that night. It was the best ever. Yet I couldn't help wondering why Dad would not tell me the purpose of the Sacred Protection. In school they just told us the history of it. From my father he just told me what it's all about at heart, besides how it's activated, etc. It's almost as if he was…worried."

The group didn't know how they could approach this. Then Tidus asked Anastasia, "Do you still not know what it's supposed to do?" Anastasia shook her head. "My father never told me. He was concerned that it would worry me too much. He said that some things in life were better left unsaid." The group was silent for a few moments. Mickey then said, "It doesn't really matter though. If there is a purpose to this Sacred Protection, we'll figure it out. But for now we still have one more page to look at. Who knows? It may even lead us to what we're looking for. Go ahead Leon. Read on." Leon then began reading yet again. Everyone was starting to get tired of sitting on their butts and did some stretching while Leon read the last page.

"Section Ten: A New Journey Has Begun

Two more months have passed. I figured out that on Earth, time passes more slowly than here on Ailiana and that Victor has just left for summer vacation. If anything, I should try to reach him, it'll be good for old time's sake. If anything, I might just be able to tell him how I feel.

It's been a long day of packing. My mom has been giving me a hard time about the boys on Victor's planet and how they're not as nice as the boys on Saryu. As usual, my Dad gave me a kiss and a hug to let me know he cares. I asked if he liked the idea of me liking a boy from Earth. All he could say is that if it makes me happy, I should go and see him no matter what. He also said that I should be allowed to go my own way and to figure out things on my own. I'll never forget that day. It was the first time I knew that my Dad wanted the best for me.

I soon found myself on Earth. A weird voice however was telling me to beware the challenges of light, darkness, and balance. They could only lead to doom and destruction in one's life. I then found myself in a dark alley. I didn't know my way around the city like Victor and before I knew it there were a few guys leaning on the walls nearby. I walked by thinking everything was good as usual, but the guys who wore black leathered clothing kept following me asking me if I was sober and ripe. I ran for my life not knowing where I was going. Unfortunately I ran into a dead end. Five guys soon circled me. They pinned me up against the wall and the leader of the gang was getting ready to put his lips on mine, but in the distance I heard a familiar voice say, "Get off her you pervs."

I smiled and saw in the distance my 'knight in shining armour'. It was that same boy I came looking for all those years ago. He was mad and then fought the gang of boys. He knocked them out one by one to get to me. Four of them ran off running for their lives, while the leader let me go and then ran up to finish Victor off. He took him up into the air and threw him into a trash bin which closed on him immediately. Victor said he'd be alright, but I didn't care about that. I ran up to Victor and threw my arms around him. He then pulled close to him. We both couldn't believe the other remembered about them this whole time.

We then took a bus back to his place and layed down on his front lawn staring at the stars and the moon as they shone in a nearly dark sky. We smiled at each other and held each other close. We knew this was the beginning of new adventures to come for both of us."

Sora got a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. He felt like things were right with the world. Yet that didn't explain why Victor would turn evil in the first place or his intentions on helping them out on occasional moments.

Leon then said, "That is so touching it feels like were at a hot spring." Merlin then added, "Yet this doesn't quite help us out at all. What challenges are your father and this voice making out?" Anastasia then said, "The challenges of light, darkness, and balance are a symbolic way of looking at the heart of a being. You have light that makes you good and pure, darkness that creates evil and bitterness inside you, and there's balance that keeps the two intact and preserved at an equal level. People on Victor's planet could describe this as 'heaven, Earth and hell' too." Merlin took a look at the page he recently found on the ground. He then said, "That doesn't make any sense though. What would that have to with our realm of the universe then?" Mickey then took a look at the page and nodded. He then said, "It all makes sense now. These challenges are a tri feta of the sort. They must be referring to worlds in our case. There's only three worlds that I could think of that easily match this description: Disney Castle, The World that Never Was, and Twilight Town."

Outside a bright light shone outside of Merlin's house. They went outside to find that it was three new gates on the other side where the Ant Island, Lowland Valley, and Gladiator Highlands as well as Olympus Coliseum on the other side or on Sora's Left. They each had a different symbol: One had the Mickey's emblem as a symbol, one had the Organization XIII emblem as a symbol, and the last one had a symbol of a train on it for a symbol. There was no doubt these were the gates to the Disney Castle, The World That Never Was, and Twilight Town. Before they could enter even one of the gates the group heard a whistle from Merlin himself. He then asked, "How can you be so sure that this is what you're looking for though?" Sora was about to speak when Mickey interrupted saying, "We don't. Unfortunately we don't. It's just a hunch I have. Besides, Riku and I still have yet to experience the power Sora had when he first transformed. I'm thinking the key to doing so may be inside each world." Merlin nodded in doubt and watched as the group went inside the Disney Castle Gate. Leon then said, "I wouldn't make too much of a big deal out of this. They know how to handle this." Merlin then thought for a moment while Leon, Anastasia, Cid, and Aerith went back inside. Merlin thought, 'It's not their abilities that concern me. Its Victor's abilities I'm worried about. For all we know he could setting up a trap for them.' He then went inside slowly and felt a headache coming to his head.


	14. Chapter 13: Mickey's Power of Balance

Mickey's Power of Balance

The group had once again found themselves in Disney Castle, just as they had not too long ago when dealing with Organization XIII. Sora, Riku, Mickey, Tidus, Yuffie, Donald, and Goofy kept walking through the palace gardens up to the the throne room hoping that they would find their answers in there. It didn't take too long to get to the throne room, except there was a problem. They saw a barrier put up on the door and seven pieces of a pie chart to make things interesting.

Mickey and the group at first didn't know how they could interpret this, but Sora was willing to give it a guess. He said, "What do you wanna bet that Victor has some pieces of the chart lying around the castle somewhere. If we each go get a piece and come back here, maybe the barrier will disappear." Riku then said, "It's worth a shot. Heck weirder things have happened. So my guess is inside the throne room there's your armour your magesty." Mickey nodded.

Mickey then said, "Alright gang let's split up. Donald and Riku, you guys better go check the garden and the engineer room where all the gummi ships are made. Tidus and Yuffie you two should check the high left and right corridors while I check the central high corridor. Riku has the library and as for you Sora, you'll take the entire lower half of the area. Since Victor is so fond of trying to get your attention in particular he'll most likely go after you then Riku and me and you get the point." Sora nodded and then the group split up to where they were going.

A white hooded figure was spying on the unsuspecting crew of fighters and snapped his fingers. Within seconds he made four portals appear. With that he disappeared once again. Sora found out where his piece of the pie graph was, but before he could get it a mysterious black cloud appeared and had taken him hostage.

Sora soon found himself in a very strange world. There was only black sky and all around him he could see nothing, but a single circular pillar he was standing on. The Pillar had a picture of Victor on it with a shade of white around him. On his left was a picture of Anastasia and on his right was a purple demon. He heard a faint laugh in the background which sent a chill down his spine. Sora then said, "Alright Victor. If this is some twisted creepy joke, its not funny. This is low even for you."

The laugh had soon stopped. The voice then asked, "Victor? How long has it been since I had abandoned that traitorous wretch of a human being. I could have made him even more powerful than his older brother Michael. Yet he refused to let me take control of his mind." Sora was confused and utterly impatient. "I don't have time for these mind games. Show yourself. At least so I know who I am talking to." The voice then said, "As you wish."

In front of Sora appeared a boy who looked just like Victor, except he didn't have flesh or blood and instead he was dark and his body was a shadow like substance. His eyes were yellow with evil. This shady character was certainly the best example of death if it ever did take a form. Sora felt yet another cold chill down his spine. He then said, "You're not Victor. You're not even human."

The dark figure then said, "Of course I am Victor you fool. I am that of who you mention and I am also not that of who you mention. I am and I am not Victor." Sora got confused and said, "Quit doing that. You're giving me a headache." The figure then said, "I should probably turn you into dust right now I suppose. Of course you're not the reason I'm here. Perhaps we'll see each other in the near future. Until then I'll leave you with a parting gift." Then a whole group of heartless appeared all around Sora taking on the dark figure's image.

"Consider this as a token of gratitude." With that he disappeared. Sora then said, "You can't hide forever. Even your heartless friends can't help you out everytime." Sora then fought with everything he had. Heartless after heartless after heartless kept coming after him and they didn't seem to let up at all. Sora seemed to be a dead duck, when suddenly he saw a familiar figure come to help him out. It was Mickey and he slashed every last heartless that was in the area. Sora then said, "Oh your majesty. Aren't you a sight for sore eyes? How'd you know where to find me?" Mickey found of piece of the pie chart and gave it to Sora. "Let's just say I had a hunch where to find you. I also knew something was up the moment that the Disney castle gate had appeared. Listen Sora, we still have time before the others get back. I saw you get trapped in a cloud of darkness and you saw something. What was it?"

Sora paused to think. He then said, "I'm not really sure. Last thing I remember I was on top of a pillar with Victor's image on it. I also saw Victor, but it wasn't really him. It looked like him, except his whole body was black in colour and his eyes were yellow." Mickey got a shocked expression on his face when he heard Sora say what he said. Mickey turned towards the sky and said, "This is terrible. This is just terrible." Sora then asked, "What's terrible?" Mickey then asked Sora, "You don't know who that was? I'm surprised he's never been here sooner. With his kind of power he could go anywhere he wanted."

Sora then asked, "Who?" Before Mickey could continue the whole gang showed up and handed all of their pieces to Mickey. They then went to the barrier and Mickey soon put all of them in their slots one by one. The barrier had disappeared and they noticed four portals beside the throne room doors. They decided that they would take a short peek at each of them for a laugh anyway. They were far from a laugh however.

1st Portal

It was Victor and he was sitting in his seat next to a strange boy. It looked like Xehanort, but it wasn't him. His eyes were green instead of yellow and his hair was straight down like his despite being white haired. They were called up to by the teacher to a small ring in the centre of the class. He was going to fight Xehanort. Victor said, "Don't expect me to go easy on you Xehanort." Xehanort said, "I wouldn't expect anything less my friend." The two were rearing for battle and when the bell rang, they had soon begun."

End of 1st Portal

The group didn't know how to respond to this at all. Mickey then said, "The boy next to Victor looked like Xehanort, but it wasn't him. Weird enough was they were friends." The group saw three more waiting to be viewed. Riku said, "Only one way to find out then." They soon viewed the next portal.

2nd Portal

Xehanort and Victor fought blow for blow. They each were trained to fight like warriors. Neither of them would give an inch. Yet Xehanort made one crucial mistake. He let his guard down at the wrong time and with one kick Victor finished him off. Xehanort was upset, yet he didn't make too much of it. The boys just laughed it off and the bell rang just in time. The two heard the ice cream truck coming down the street and soon enough they ran off to catch it.

End of 2nd Portal

The others could see that the two were best friends. There was no question about that. Mickey then said, "It's too bad. I wonder what made them end their friendship so abruptly." Riku then said, "I does make you wonder." The group peered at next portal on the other side of the doors.

3rd Portal

Xehanort and Victor were much older and were on a hillside overlooking an endless coniferous forest. Victor said, "Xehanort, I'm only going to say this once. Won't you please consider this for a second? You want to go after studying the heart. You also want to use it to make you powerful." Xehanort then asked, "That's supposed to be bad? I'm going to use the power of the heart to help others and you find that to be a problem. I thought you were my friend." Victor shook his head. "I am your friend. I'm telling you this because I care. If you go through with this, it will backfire on you guaranteed. You can't control good and evil inside a person's heart. It's impossible." Xehanort then exclaimed, "Silence!! Obviously you don't know me then. Which means there's only way to settle this. We fight until the other can't."

End of 3rd Portal

The group then figured this was yet another omen of things to come. Mickey then said, "It all makes sense. Yet that doesn't seem like the Xehanort that I met with Ansem all those years ago. He's much different. I can tell just by looking at him he's different." The others couldn't disagree since they had never actually seen Xehanort. They then looked at the last portal.

4th Portal

Xehanort and Victor then fought each other. Xehanort wore grey clothing and wielded a spear like weapon with two blades on the top and bottom. Victor on the other hand didn't have or need a weapon to fight. He used his own to hands instead. The two friends clashed as they had years past as kids. This time however their friendship lay in the balance. Victor fought with all of his might as did Xehanort. They both didn't let up until Victor broke his weapon. Xehanort then got blown away by the impact and Victor had ended it as soon as it had begun. "It's not too late Xehanort. Please, you don't have to do this. Power's not everything. I should know. I had it being a bad guy once. It's nothing but a poison.", Victor said. Xehanort added, "I'm sorry, but I have to do this. You wouldn't understand." Xehanort then ran off into the forest leaving behind Victor all confused and at a loss for words.

End of 4th Portal

Mickey then said, "We'd better get going inside the throne room. We might find what we're looking for anyway." Before they could they saw Victor appear along with Pete. Yet Pete wasn't himself. He had a black bracelet covering the top of his head and his eyes were all red. Victor then said, "It figures. You guys are finally here. No matter. Once I beat all of you guys I'll get rid of the cornerstone of light and add this castle to my collection of conquered worlds." Sora then said, "Not if we have anything to say about it." Mickey then ran inside the throne room and saw a strange weapon on his throne. It was brown sword with his emblem on it. He ran and grabbed it and then soon went outside to find his friends all battered and exhausted.

Even when Sora had transformed it wasn't enough. Mickey then said, "Victor, this is quite enough. You'd better stop now." Victor couldn't help, but laugh. "Or what? You'll kick my butt from here to Kansas? You know I don't think Pete's happy to see you, are you Pete?" Pete then stared at Mickey. Pete said, "It's because of you I was always the loser. I was banished for simply trying new ways of helping out you guys at no price at all." Mickey shook his head. "You were trying to make yourself more powerful. Even if it meant costing other people's lives in the process."

Pete then said, "I've had enough of your cheap talk. Let's finish this once and for all." Pete then ran up to attack Mickey. Mickey being agile and fast ran and jumped each time to attack Pete with all his might and power. Yet even with the new sword he didn't stand a chance against Pete. Pete kept blowing Mickey away. He ripped up his shirt, punched him in the throat and he slammed him into the ground head first. Pete then stood over his weak opponent with and evil glare awaiting the finishing move to begin.

Pete then said, "Do you have any last words your majesty." Mickey then glowed with light all over him. "Yes Pete. I do. You'll never win. I got friends on my side who would never give up on me no matter what happens. I won't give up, so long as I draw breath." Mickey then had bronze armour appear all over himself. His new sword got new power from the armour and it revived him of all the injuries he had received. He then slashed at Pete as fast as he could and put him down hard. Pete fell on his back in front of the white hooded figure. Victor then said, "Very impressive your majesty. Yet again though, I anticipated this as well. Just you wait, I will have the last laugh." Victor snapped his fingers and he disappeared along with Pete.

Mickey revived the group and they returned to the garden as they kept talking about the new power that Mickey had received. It was known as the power of balance, while Sora's power was the power of light. That left Riku with the power of darkness yet to find. Then Jiminy Cricket found a page for Anastasia's journal and the group returned to Radiant Garden.

Mickey automatically returned to normal when he passed through the gate and soon they all began to talk to Leon and Merlin about his new power. Leon then said, "That proves it then. Mickey you were right. You were right the entire time. Now that leaves only Riku and his power. That also leaves the power of darkness left. You guys can connect the dots right?" Riku looked up at the sunset sky. "Just when I thought I was rid of that cursed evil it slaps me in the face once more." Sora put his hand on Riku's shoulder. Sora said, "You still are our friend. Besides the power of darkness could easily help us when we need it right?" Riku nodded and then they entered the gate into Twilight Town. Leon looked up at the sky. "It has begun." Merlin stared at Leon. "What has Leon?" Leon stared at Merlin when he said this. "The next step to stopping Victor has officially started."

Note: the Xehanort mentioned here is obviously not the one that was mentioned in KH2 or the ending video. The Xehanort mentioned is prior to the old man fighting the knights or "Chasers" if you want to call them that. He was a young man when he fought Victor before leaving the friendship behind for good.


	15. Chapter 14: A Wicked Omen

A Wicked Omen

The group found themselves in the familiar spot of Twilight Town. For most of them it was familiar anyway. It was so quiet. There was no one in a square mile of the area. The group stuck close together, but soon enough Riku had disappeared again. The others tried to search for him, but they didn't see where he went. Either way, they saw a familiar sight in the distance. Hayner, Pence, and Olette were taking a stroll down from the sandlot where Seifer always was.

Hayner then said, "Hey Sora. It's been a while. How are you doing?" Sora replied, "It's nothing too great, but I'm trying to find Riku. He was just walking with us and soon enough he disappeared into thin air." Olette then said, "That's just weird." The group soon touched base with each other as to what was really going on. Sora then told Hayner Pence and Olette about Victor who had soon begun calling himself the "White Knight" ever since they had first met him. Olette then said, "That explains everything. I know this doesn't help too much, but we did see about a couple of days ago. He had some other people with him who had rings around their heads searching for something. We didn't get much of a viewing because he was headed our way and nearly caught us."

Mickey looked up at the sky and thought for a moment. He thought, "Just what are you trying to pull Victor? There's no way you would push the limits of the galaxy just to have a little rivalry with someone you don't know or dare to conquer anything either. Although this seems vaguely familiar." The group soon headed out for the Usual Spot and Sora called to Mickey, "Hey you majesty!! Don't get too sleepy now you hear?" He giggled a little and then ran off to catch up to the group. Mickey soon caught up with the group, but he was still stuck in a long train of thought.

Meanwhile, Riku was lost yet again. He was in a dark place, but it wasn't the same situation he was in when he fought Victor. This time he was inside a giant dome. It appeared to be filled with a huge jungle and bellow it was and endless herd of dinosaurs and giant insects. "So how do you like this place?" Riku turned to see that it was Victor and beside him was Z-Man. Riku then asked, "Where am I? What are you planning Victor?" Victor snapped his fingers and all around Riku was an endless amount of heartless. "I know that you think you're all powerful don't you? Yet power and brawn can't win battles alone. Let's see if you can handle a hundred thousand heartless all on your own."

Victor and Z-Man then disappeared and left Riku to fight all on his own. It was a hasty struggle that he had. Heartless came from all over the area and they still kept on coming even when Riku fought off hundreds of them. Eventually he was getting tired and was getting ganged up on.

Flashback

The jungle was immense. Here dinosaurs roamed and giant herbivore insects roamed the land with ease and tenacity. It was here that the Leopard King ruled. He stared down a very young eleven year old Victor. He had no white hooded suit, no powers of light, and no sense of giving up. The Leopard King looked like Sabor from Tarzan's world, but his pelvis was positioned more like a human's so he could walk upright and he wore a crown and a red cape hence his name. He was far from being a gentle ruler though. He had recently told Victor that he was the last of his kind and they stared off for five to six minutes. He then said, "You'd best give up. There's no way you'll win. I may be the last leopard of this jungle paradise, but that doesn't mean that I'm not as powerful as my predecessors." Victor stood his ground expecting an attack to happen yet it didn't. Victor then said, "I'll never give in. You don't know how strong I am. You don't even deserve to call yourself a king!!" The Leopard King then said, "Silence!!" and then attacked Victor.

Present

Riku kept fighting even when he was tired and kept up his confidence even things looked bleak. Soon enough he beat all of the heartless, but at a dire price. He was weak, and his body was badly injured.

Flashback

Victor had scratches all over his body and was losing energy fast. Of course the Leopard King was powerful, but also had injuries of his own. Not only was he struggling to stand up, but his arm was badly injured by a t.rex that bit him. He recently caused parts of the mountain cliff to fall on Victor, but luckily Victor survived and ran up the edge of the mountain. Victor even tried to save him, but instead of giving thanks, he kept fighting Victor anyway. It wasn't long until Victor was cornered at the edge of the nearby waterfalls leading into the dinosaurs'/insects' lake or 'watering hole' and the Leopard King pounced on Victor and bit him at the neck.

Luckily, He lost so much blood from his arm he was too weak to defeat Victor. Victor then punched the big cat and in kind stabbed him at the neck as well. He finished off the terror that struck him. Victor then said, "It's too bad. It never had to be this way. Now it all ends with you, your majesty!!" With that he threw the body of the fallen leopard over the cliff and from the jungle below a t.rex appeared and swallowed the cat whole in one mighty, ferocious gulp.

Present

Riku fought every last heartless 'till he couldn't even stand up. Victor then appeared and told Riku the story about his fight with the Leopard King. He was part of a 'missing link' in the natural wonders of Victor's world. Yet he was closed off, when people trapped him and his people in a tiny jungle in Africa. Time had stopped there and the dinosaurs still roamed freely along the newly formed insect giants that lived with them. They were all trapped inside a giant dome never to be released ever.

Riku didn't understand this at all. He then said, "What in the heck does that have to do with us?" Victor looked up at the dark sky. "It's simple. You guys are at the level I was when I was no bigger than a chair. I find that pathetic. If you even want to make this worth your while, you'll have to do better than that. You must in turn face a creature of mystifying proportions. That is the only way you'll understand what I mean. When I killed the Leopard King, it was the turning point for me in my long journey for adventure and helping others. You'll see what I mean soon. Very soon you'll see." With that, Victor snapped his fingers and Riku found himself in the Usual Spot where Sora and the group were just talking with Hayner, Pence and Olette.

After Riku recovered, the group tried talking to him about what had happened, but there was little or no information given. Riku just said that we'd have a bone to pick with Victor very soon. They heard a noise outside and went to investigate. Quicker than Riku had begun to finish off, Victor had reappeared again and had a giant troll with him. The troll was over fifteen feet high and smelled like cabbage. What's more he looked like he didn't have a shower in weeks because his armpits smelled like garbage. Victor laughed and said, "What'd I tell ya Riku. Now you'll have me to deal with. But first I have a friend for you to face." Soon enough the group faced off against the troll. Even Hayner, Pence and Olette joined the fight. Yet the beast was too strong. Mickey transformed and summoned his weapon, yet only to weaken him slightly. Sora then transformed as well, but he didn't stand a chance at all against the giant walking barf bag. Sora then saw something inside a stone outside the woods. It was a golden sword and the second he wielded it he gained extreme power. He even defeated the troll with one slash.

Victor clapped and said, "Bravo. This just means that everything is falling into place. You don't know it yet, but you're heading straight into my spider web." He snapped his fingers and disappeared. Later, Sora and the group were discussing their next move. Riku then found a page from Anastasia's journal and said, "You know maybe the next few pages could tell us more about Victor's weaknesses. We got a tiny taste of it in the last page. One of them involves his devotion to Anastasia. Maybe if we're lucky we can find a way to beat him once and for all." The others agreed and said goodbye to Hayner Pence and Olette. The group soon found themselves back in Radiant Garden. They gave the page to Anastasia and were about to head off to The World That Never Was. Mickey then said, "It doesn't make any sense. We can transform, but this time it wasn't until Sora found the sword to his suit that helped us defeat the troll. There must be a reason." Riku pondered this for a second and then said, "You know what I think? This might have to do with the worlds themselves. You beat Pete in Disney Castle, and Sora beat a troll in Twilight Town just now. I think that Victor is trying to test out our powers and see how far we can push our limits." Sora looked confused and asked, "How can you tell?" Riku responded, "Victor transported me to a distant part of his world he went to as a kid. We are as powerful as he was when he was twelve. Unfortunately that's not enough. We need to surpass our levels now if we're gonna stand a chance against him." The group agreed and headed off for The World That Never Was expecting a different outcome the next time they faced Victor again.


	16. Chapter 15: Of Darkness Been Born

Of Darkness Been Born

The group soon found themselves in The World That Never Was, former residence of Organization XIII. Riku, Sora, Mickey, Donald and Goofy remembered all of the events that happened on this desolate place. They remembered all of the people that suffered because of them. They even remembered Xemnas, the despised ruler of the organization and how he was the tyrant of the entire KH universe. They group kept walking through the cold foggy town. It didn't stay like that long for though. It soon started to pour down rain from above. The group soon found where Castle Oblivion used to be and in its place was a statue of Xemnas.

They felt an eerie cold chill go down all of their backs. Sora oddly enough had an even colder chill than the others and turned pale. Riku asked, "You okay Sora?" Sora sneezed. He then said, "It's odd. I haven't been here for a while, but I feel Deja vu on this particular street. It's like something happened here that I'm sure about." As he said it, the fog disappeared."Remember this Sora? I think you remember more than you know." They group turned away from the statue to notice a familiar sight. It was Victor and his hood was pulled over his head and face. Sora then said, "So I take it you want to fight right here then." Victor then responded saying, "Oh please. I wouldn't face you here even if there were a thousand spectators from all over watching. I did however, face another here. He looked just like you. Except he was blonde, you're a brunette."

The group gasped as they saw Sora faint. He somehow turned into Roxas at that fleeting moment. Roxas picked himself up and stood his ground as he looked into Victor's eyes. "You think you're really funny don't you? You kidnapped Namine you jerk. It's one thing to pick a fight and then heal me for no good reason. To take someone I love though has crossed the line." Victor laughed with an evil mood on his face, as he pulled down the hood. He then said, "Don't waste your breath. You're no match for me Roxas. I have the power of fifty million soldiers on my planet. I wouldn't make me angry if I were you!!" Riku stepped up to where Roxas was. Riku then said, "Why are you doing this? You conquer worlds and then what? Don't you care about the people that live on them? Do you have a heart?"

Victor looked away from the others and turned so they could see his back only. Victor then said, "How many times must people ask that question. Of course I have a heart. All of the people on Earth have hearts. Difference is in my realm the worlds don't have hearts. They rely on hot molten core to keep them moving as well as my galaxy's Sun to keep my people alive. So when my people do bad stuff, they don't hear the world dying or notice it's in bad shape. They believe money and power is everything. They mindlessly abandon their thoughts because people think it's uncool to have imaginations or feelings. To tell you the truth Riku, I too don't care. Not because I want to, but simply because I have grown up isolated from the people of Earth. They didn't trust me. They thought I was evil at birth and shunned me from the beginning. That's how my brothers and I survived. We lived alone and then fought occasionally together."

The group was silent. Roxas was still mad though. Roxas said, "That's no excuse. You still kidnapped Namine. I know this because I'm still part of Sora. Where he goes, I go." Victor laughed and turned around. "You don't think I already knew that? I've been studying you guys as if you were lab rats. I found out stuff that you guys didn't realize was possible. I found out things that my planet didn't know either. My brothers and I gained the power to travel to other worlds beyond our own, but at a price. We've faced villains and foes like you wouldn't imagine. I truly do wish I could tell you my intentions here, but I can't. I've got a lot more planned than simply conquering worlds. I could do that easily. What I want is something much more unique. Something that doesn't exist in this universe."

The group fell silent again. Mickey then asked, "What is it that you're looking for?" Victor said, "I'm not telling you your majesty. That's for me to know, and you to find out." He then snapped his fingers and disappeared. In his place were thousands and thousands of heartless. The group was poised to fight. Roxas then fainted again and soon Sora was back in his rightful spot rearing for a challenge. The heartless soon charged and the group rushed in to defend themselves.

Flashback

The World That Never Was lay quiet and motionless. Roxas was still on Twilight Town and Xemnas was still looking at the plans that were to summon Kingdom Hearts. He then heard an explosion from the bottom of the castle. Xigbar then came up weak and out of breath. Xemnas asked, "What's all the commotion? I don't wish to be disturbed." Xigbar spit out blood saying, "We have an intruder amongst us in the castle. We all tried ganging up on him, but he beat each and every one of us. He even toppled Saix as well." Xemnas' eyes gleamed as he said, "What?!?!" He jumped over Xigbar as he fainted on the floor.

Xemnas ran down the castle into the main chamber. He heard laughing and noticed on the way down all of his comrades chained up and bruised up from fighting. In the centre he saw a small boy noticing he was about Roxas' height and wore a suit like Organization XIII's suits except it was white. "Remember me Xehanort?" Xemnas got a mad look on his face and said, "You have a lot nerve coming here trying to stop me." The boy then said, "Maybe this will jog your memory." He pulled down his hood to reveal Victor in flesh and blood as he knew him many eons ago.

Xemnas looked shocked and fell to his knees. "Why? Why did you pursue me here? I never meant you any harm." Victor then got a mad glare on his face. Victor said, "You still don't get it, do you? You wanted to control people simply because you were misunderstood. You became mad with power and didn't care whose life would lie in the balance. I don't even wanna hear it. I thought the exact same way as you did Xehanort. The people of my world treated me bad too. I got vengeance all right. I became just like them, I shunned others, murdered other people in the long run and I became by far the most cunning and most powerful villain in the entire omega universe that every living thing inhabits. Yet it wasn't worth it. The same goes for your plan too. You think you have all the cards played out, but you don't. You're still the same poor excuse for a being I always did know. I didn't care about that though. I was friends with you, because I wanted someone to care for me. I don't understand though why you'd throw all that away for this."

Xemans then stood up chuckling a tiny bit. "So you want to know so bad old friend. Well let's settle this like gentlemen and we'll talk at the end." Soon a daring fight began. Xemnas had his star wars laser swords in hand and all of his powers, and Victor had his power of light aiding him everywhere he went. He summoned his sword of light and their weapons soon clashed. They two were locked in constant battle. They soon pushed off from each other and took the fight into the air. The two kept floating and slashing at each other with all they had.

They didn't stop for a moment. Not until the end when Victor started laughing. Xemnas asked, "What's so funny?" Victor then said as he clashed again with Xemnas, "I was only using half of my power. I'm impressed old friend. Even when you were a being we were always evenly matched. Yet I always won because I stayed focus and rose up above the weak." Victor then started using his full power and beat Xemnas so fast even when he started falling the oncoming attacks were quicker than the impact of the ground hitting his body. Xemnas stood up having a tiny scratch on his left cheek. He then said, "I didn't want to hurt you. That's why I didn't drag you with me to find Kingdom Hearts. I knew that you wouldn't want to at all. From that moment on we ceased to be friends and became people in different places of the universe."

Victor got a tear in his eye which trickled down his face. He said, " 'sob' I wouldn't have cared what you did. 'sniff' You were my best friend. I didn't want you to die. I wanted you to stay with me. I wanted you going with me everywhere on my planet 'sniff' and then some." Xemnas laughed slightly when heard what Victor said and rubbed the tear off his face. "You poor kid. You actually liked me. You really liked me even after all the stuff I've done to get to this place here and now." Victor nodded. Xemnas then said, "I wish there was a better way. Yet I must do this. It's the only way I can be human again." Victor nodded. "I won't stand in your way. Before I go, I want to tell you this. Your plan won't succeed. It's not because you're not powerful, it's because you underestimate the power the heart has. No matter what happens though you'll always be my best friend." With that Victor hugged Xemnas and snapped his fingers. He soon disappeared in a blinding light leaving Xemnas alone with his thoughts.

Present

The heartless surrounded the group endlessly taunting them. Sora got knocked back down on his butt where everyone else was. They were even transformed both Sora and Mickey. Yet even with their swords of light and balance they still did nothing. Sora then said, "It's no use. We can't win this way. There's too many of them." Riku then saw something that the statue of Xemnas was wielding. It was a black sword.

Riku then took it out and wielded it as if it were his own. More heartless soon started to go down. Then they all fused together to become a giant heartless minotaur who had a mace in one hand and a club in other. Riku then battled the beast and made short work of the mace as it flew out of his hands and disappeared into dust. The beast then whacked Riku and Sora yelled to the top of his lungs, "Riku, No!!!!!" Riku then glowed. This time it was a dark aura and a black armoured suit appeared all around him. The newly formed warrior was ready for battle.

The minotaur struck once, but it was no match. Riku kept slashing at the beast like there was no tomorrow. The Minotaur's club turned into dust and Riku ran in for the kill. With one strike, the beast turned into dust and faded away. Riku then transformed back into his old self and noticed a page fly out of the beast's body. It was the final page to Anastasia's journal. Before the group could congratulate him, a white portal appeared and the Xemnas statue disappeared. The group peered in and saw the whole commotion Victor had with Xemnas.

Sora then said, "Who knew? I guess Xemnas wasn't that bad to begin with. That hug at the end proves that Victor does have a heart." Mickey then said, "Unfortunately, that doesn't make his intentions any better. He still is controlling people and conquering planets regardless of his other plans. So we must prepare for the day that any of us actually fight him. That includes you Sora. You must be focussed if you want to stand a chance against him." Sora nodded and the others left through the gate.

In Merlin's house, Leon and Merlin as well as the rest of the Radiant Garden crew, including Chip and Dale, were expecting them. Sora gave Anastasia the page and Riku told Merlin and Leon about his transformation. Merlin then said, "This is so profound. We must continue research on the suits. That is of course not before we hear about the last three pages. We still have info. that could still be useful to us there." The group huddled once more as Anastasia gave Leon her journal and he turned to section eleven. Little did they know a white hooded boy was outside the front door waiting to burst in with quick precision.


	17. Chapter 16: Victor's Identity

Victor's identity

The group sat down yet again on the cold hard floor for the last time to hear the new discoveries by Merlin and Leon. Leon said, "You guys are not gonna believe this. Yet this is something you should know by anyway. We have found something very useful and dangerous that we think Victor is looking for." Sora then asked, "What is it then? If it's so powerful we should already be out in the worlds looking for it, instead of staying here." Merlin scratched his beard. Merlin said, "It's not quite that simple Sora. You see over the past few hours we've been looking at the pages you brought us instead of searching it on the computer." Sora sighed and collapsed in disappointment. Leon then said, "Regardless, these pages were going to give us some info. anyway. So we should take a look and see what they say. Now pay attention."

"Section Eleven: Trust Reborn

It has been a few weeks now since Victor and I got back together. We met some of the weirdest people though over the past little while. There was an ant-like person called Anthrax that attacked us and I threw myself right at him just so Victor wouldn't get crushed by his strong arms. Victor then transformed, but into a darker being with stronger abilities. He also had yellow eyes. When he finally finished off Anthrax he finally came clean about this new power. Over the years his brothers along with Victor kept finding and losing powers as they grew older. It was almost as if it were hormones and that their powers were helping them develop.

What really scared me is what Victor said next though. He mentioned that that power he had was a remnant of a bygone age. He told me that when he first killed someone, a monstrous creature developed inside him. It was unlike anything his people ever witnessed before. He couldn't continue, but I suspected that this thing did something pretty bad to Victor while he was growing up.

Victor said that one time he tried to take over his body and become the most powerful being in the universe. He said that if Victor had let him they would have enough power to defeat Michael in battle and take over the universe. Victor refused saying that that wasn't his ordain. I couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of creature that would be at all. Why would it have a desire for conquering things? Why would he need Victor? I wish I knew. Oh well, Victor said he's taking me to an Olive Garden so I'd better get ready."

Leon then said, "Looks like Victor's got a lot in common with Sora then we thought. He's been fighting bad guys as well. Not only that, but he also had something evil inside him. Anastasia, do you remember all the stuff he said about this creature?" Anastasia shook her head. She said, "That last section there was written two years ago. Back then Victor and I were getting so close I didn't pay too much attention because I knew that Victor would always be there to protect others the way they hadn't protected him." Riku then said, "Come to think of it I did see something. It was when I was captured in Twilight Town." (Flashback of his fight with heartless)

'While I was fighting heartless, I found myself in a jungle with a dome like barrier covering the entire land except the sky. There were dinosaurs and giant insects in the valley below. I also had a story told to me by Victor himself. It was when Victor was younger. Maybe ten or eleven years old. He was fighting a walking Leopard with a cape on his back and a crown on his head. Victor fought hard and nearly was killed from the cat's bit to his neck. Yet the leopard was bleeding from a t.rex bite he got during the fight with Victor. Victor helped him out from the t.rex and the leopard still kept fighting Victor. Victor finished him off and threw him off a cliff where that same t.rex swallowed him whole. After I beat all the heartless, Victor said that when he did this, it was a turning point for him and his adventure helping others. He also said that in order for us to get up to his level, we would have to face a creature of mystifying proportions.' The others couldn't say much and just decided to keep reading the last two pages to get the last bit of information needed.

"Section Twelve: A Small Tale

It's been a whole year now. Victor and I have been together for quite some time and feel it necessary to take it to the next level. It's always a pain to write back to Mom and Dad because their replies are always covered in tears and tissue paper. Anyway I can't help, but smile. Victor is everything I thought he would be. He's kind, sincere, deep, easy to connect with, never judgemental, and he's such a romantic. He's always taken me to places I never knew existed on this planet. I've always dreamed of something like this.

It also seems like yesterday that we were fighting one of his old friends Kyle. He had died over five years ago, but had met Victor when they were in grade two. He tried to be Victor's friend and yet Victor couldn't trust him. Years later, Victor saw him again holding me captive and calling himself Airaras. It was a tough battle for Victor considering they weren't even friends, but he beat him. At a price he died, and then came back in his dark form but something was different. His eyes were red. That could only mean one thing. Victor was getting stronger with darkness.

I could never truly understand the full extent of Victor's dark power. Only thing he told me was when he left Calgary all those years ago, he changed. Emotionally, he was heartbroken having left so many good things that mattered the most to him there. He became an even darker person and more powerful with darkness at his new power. I knew it wouldn't last for long though."

The group finally started chatting with Anastasia and amongst themselves wondering about this new power of darkness of his and how it became the power of light. Leon then said, "It does make you wonder if this creature he mentioned about, is not still in him trying to control him." Sora looked at the door and felt an odd feeling about it. He didn't make too much of it and then turned back to listen to the last page of Anastasia's journal.

"Section Thirteen: A Final Goodbye

It pains me to think about this, but Victor has finally said goodbye to me. He said that the universe needs his help more than ever now and his brothers along with him were needed for this daring escapade. He told me he'd be back someday and that I would always be in his heart and vice versa. I still didn't stop crying though. I kept on thinking about all the good times we had together, but eventually realised that he's a human and needs to think about some things all on his own and that I had to stay out of his thoughts for the time being anyway. I then remembered the last thing he told me. He said that no matter the outcome he would always stay truthful and help me whenever I needed it.

How any other boy could be that thoughtful besides him I can't even imagine. Even though he was going away he said it in such a way that my worries seemed to drift away. He also told me that I should consider going on my own adventures saying that I could help others with my power. I've been doing just that and have noticed a quiet little planet people call Radiant Garden. It is so beautiful and the people are absolutely amazing. They have the best cooking ever and they are so nice. I think I might go see the great Merlin himself while I'm at it."

Merlin then said, "That one was written about a couple of days ago. Am I correct Anastasia?" Anastasia nodded saying, "I had been traveling for a while and stopped by your planet to rest my eyes, but then I met up with you guys and the rest is history."

She then gave a nice warm feeling to the rest of the group when she smiled. Leon then said, "That's it then. Somehow when Victor left he became something more evil. My guess is that he got trapped by the creature again and became evil." The group started discussing about Victor and what they would do next with him. This of course was only for a short time anyway. They all heard a loud laugh as the door broke into a million pieces and in walked the white figure himself. They also saw Z-Man walk in behind Victor as well. Victor asked, "Did you figure it all by yourselves?" The group held their ground. Sora then ran forward and said, "We're not afraid of you. You may have power, but that doesn't mean your invincible!!" Victor chuckled as the group saw him float in the air. Victor then asked, "Who ever said, it was just me you had to worry about?"

The group saw in horror as all the pages from Anastasia's journal came towards Victor who had his arms raised up and clapped together. He clenched his hands with the pinky and ring finger clenched downwards while the middle finger and index fingers were pointing up and were pushed against each other while the thumbs were pushing against each other up unseen. Victor began chanting a spell in Hebrew and the pages soon took on the form of human beings. Z-Man was wrapped up like a mummy by the sixth page of Anastasia's journal. When Victor finally stopped floating and the spell was finally complete all around him on either side was thirteen human figures in black hooded suits. Sora then said, "It doesn't matter. We have the power of the Sacred Protection on our side!!" Riku and Mickey nodded and along with Sora transformed into their own unique suits with their swords of light, balance, and darkness.

Victor laughed as he stared at the golden, the brown, and the black armoured warriors. Victor then said, "You fools!! You expect to defeat me with that? Who do you think discovered those suits?" The group gasped as Victor snapped his fingers and the suits disappeared along with the swords. Sora then asked, "Why? How'd he take our suits?" Victor laughed and responded, "You really aren't that bright. My brothers and I were the ones who used that power long before you even discovered it. Without us, the universe would have never realised that it even existed. Now we're gonna finish you off once and for all." The hooded figures soon began creating a fireball in hopes of incinerating Sora and the others. They saw a gate appear outside behind them and Sora, Riku, Mickey, Tidus, Yuffie, Donald, and Goofy were instantly transported to it. It had the image of a sabre-toothed tiger on it (sabre-toothed cats to anyone obsessed with palaeontology or science) The group entered it and soon enough the hooded figures disappeared along with their fireball. Leon, Cid, Merlin, Anastasia and Aerith didn't know how to explain what happened. Yet out of nowhere they saw a figure in the distance outside flying over to Merlin's house. The figure was very muscular and had black hair. The figure also looked to be a male as well. It was a purple demon.


	18. Chapter 17: 20,000 years into Life

20,000 years into Life

Sora and the others found themselves in a very odd predicament. They didn't have their powers anymore, were lost and hungry, and not only that, but they were also stuck in a frozen wasteland unlike any other they had seen before. They looked around themselves and gazed in awe at how huge the ice was ice. Thousands of square kilometres to the north east and west seemed to be covered with it. The rest of the land was all prairie and lowland forests. This was the land of Glacier Peaks. Sora and the group were nearby a waterfall and were changed into animal forms as well. Sora was a caveman, Riku a smilodon, Tidus was a brontothere, Yuffie a mammoth, Goofy a woolly rhino, Donald a dodo, and Mickey was a glyptodont.

In the distance they saw another mammoth like Yuffie, but much bigger with a sloth and a baby human next to them. They ran up to get a good look, but the mammoth and the sloth were wary. The mammoth charged towards Riku and Sora them being the two enemies of mammoth a smilodon and a human. It didn't take too long for Yuffie to intervene and attack the mammoth in defence. Sora stepped in between the behemoths and said, "Stop this both of you." The mammoth charged and stopped before the young boy. He said, "Back off!! I'm warning you, you take one step closer and I'll charge you down like a wild animal." Mickey intervened and said, "Enough!! Listen Mr. Uh…" The mammoth interrupted and said, "The name's Manfred." Mickey continued, "Manfred, we don't mean you or your sloth any harm. We especially don't mean any harm to the baby over there."

Manfred stepped down and then asked what they were all doing together. It seemed odd to him that a mammoth would we be with a sabre-tooth and a human. They explained their intentions and soon everything became clear. Manfred soon said, "I never thought of it that way. So you guys are going to help us get this kid back to his family?" They soon nodded and behind Sid the sloth they saw a smilodon like Riku, but it was more cat like than he was.

"I'm not here to fight.", The cat said. Manfred then said, "Of course not. You just want to turn our little friend in wool clothing into some nice French fries and a hotdog." The cat shook his head and then said, "I can help you find that baby's family." Sora, Manfred, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Tidus, Yuffie, Sid and the baby soon went up the high cliffs being told by the sabre-tooth that that's where the family's home was. They later found out from conversation that the cat's name was Diego.

Manfred looked around at the top of the cliffs to find that the humans had just left their site. He then said, "Hey whiskers. What gives? You said they'd be up here." The cat ran up the cliff and through the river with precision. He then said, "Wrong. I said I knew where that kid's family was. If they're like any other animal around they're migrating with the herds. The freezing winter is coming tomorrow." Sora looked at the cat suspiciously. He then said, "Why should we trust you then? You wouldn't want to go near a human either without making him or her a snack." Diego then said, "I told you guys I've been left behind by my clan of smilodon. I've got nowhere else to go except stick with you guys. Now listen up, I can easily get us to them, but you're going to have to trust me." The group reluctantly nodded figuring something was up with Diego and then left following the patch of human footprints they found on the ground.

They soon left to find the baby's family. While on the way they were constantly trying to take care of the baby and its needs and wants. It was hard every time to take care of it. Sometimes it needed a nap, and sometimes it needed to go on the other end. Either way it didn't matter. They were still miles in a cold barren wasteland. They were miles away from home and what's worse was that Sora was starting to get frostbite. It didn't take too long because the thought of rescuing Kairi always brightened his mood. They always were looking at the scenery and Manfred was always cutting them down saying that the sooner that they find the kid's family, the better off he'll be finding his way back to the open fields. Sora commented one time saying, "Yeesh, what a grouch." Riku then said, "Sora!!" Mickey broke the two apart saying, "We shouldn't try and make things worse than they are. Yes Manfred is a little spirited, but he wants to help us remember? That means we have to cooperate and see this through to the end." The two nodded and went on their way with the group. Little did they know, a group of four smilodon were watching them from the cliffs.

Eventually, the kid became hungry. Sid had been so close with the baby he could tell if it was hungry or pooped his pants or not. They soon saw a watermelon, but before they could get it a dodo plucked it and ran off. The dodo was white feathered, fat looking like other dodos and its beak was so huge it looked like the bills on a parrot. What's more they walked more like chickens than other birds who take strides while walking.

The group soon saw a whole group of them preparing for the ice age. Some of them were doing army drills and chants while others were saying "Prepare for the ice age" and "Protect the dodo way of life". Others said that "Survival would separate them from the beasts". Sid took a good look at the marching birds and asked, "Ice Age?". Diego soon said, "I've heard of these crackpots." The group then were spotted by a dodo who carried a watermelon they saw before to a stump with two others beside it. He constantly chanted intruder while heading off to the other dodos.

Meanwhile, another dodo was a giving a lecture to his fellow birds about geysers. The bird said, "Now don't fall in, if you do you will definitely…" The other bird sending an alarm ran in saying intruders and then he fell in the geyser in dumb stupidity. The other bird then finished saying , "…burn and die." Manfred soon stepped up saying, "Can we have our melon back? Junior's hungry and uh…" Then the other dodo giving the lecture replied, "No way!! This is our private stockpile for the ice age. Some arctic terrestrial creatures will force us underground for billions and billions of years!!" The group looked at the stump and back at the flightless birds. Sora asked, "So you have three melons?"

The dodos looked at their spoils in stupidity feeling their cause was all for naught. The lead dodo then said, "Well if you weren't smart enough to plan ahead, then doom on you!!" The others dodos surrounded them and chanted doom on you repeatedly. They soon lost a melon from a dodo tripping over it and it landed towards the human kid and Sid. The dodo said, "Oh no!! Retrieve the melon!! Tai Kwan Dodos!! Attack!!" Then the dodos jumped up and did their form of taikwando which was basically a summersault and a kick at the end. One dodo kicked the guy on his right and the other kicked a guy on his left. That dodo plucked the melon from the kid and it got passed from dodo to dodo until he flung it over the cliff. They said the melon and a chunk of the dodos ran over trying to retrieve it. One of the dodos said, "There goes our last female." Riku then grabbed another melon and soon the other dodos caught on to him.

They soon pecked at him and flung the melon upward with each of them, including Tidus, Yuffie, Donald and Goofy as well as Riku trying to grab it too. Mickey, Sora, Manfred, Diego, and Sid were trying to fight off the other dodos as best they could. One dodo kicked the watermelon towards three dodos who were standing an inch over the geyser trying to keep it above the fumes. They all said, "I got it, I got it!!" then the melon flung upward and they fell into the geyser saying, "Don't got it!!" and the melon fell in with them. The other dodos looked at the stump and said, "The last melon!!!" Riku had it in his hands and the other dodos soon pecked at him to get it. The melon flew out of his hands and into Sids' paws. He was surrounded by the creatures on either side to his left and right and above him. He saw the kid on the other side with Sora and the others in anticipation.

The kid raised up his hand as if to say, "Sid!!" Sid looked at the melon and then at the kid. He got a mad look on his face and ran forward not looking back for even a moment. He treated the melon like a football and clobbered any dodo that stood in his way. He kept running and running and when the dodos finally closed him off on all sides he jumped and evaded them while slightly sliding on his belly across the dirt path. He jumped for glory as he celebrated his victory and then he did the unthinkable. He threw the watermelon on the ground and the group fell to the ground in embarrassment. Diego then said, "Ah Sid!! Now we gotta find more food!!" The kid didn't seem to mind though. He started eating the red part of the melon and the others soon saw a remaining flock of the dodos standing each others' shoulders while walking the other way towards the cliff. Mickey then said, "Well, What do ya know? Dinner and a Show!!" as the last few dodos fell off the cliff to their doom.

The group soon were on their way and found themselves past the mountain peaks which would lead them to humans in a matter of days but in order to do that they would have to go into a dark cave. They passed through many caverns until they came upon some cave art commonly made by your average caveman. There was cave art all over the entire cavern. It was hard to see which was which. Riku then said, "They sure do put a lot of art here don't they?" Sid then said, "Yeah, but I think it's just stupid. I see everything, but sloths on here. Aren't I unique to every day life? Is there no room for Sid the sloth?" While he kept talking about that, Sora looked around him in awe. He thought, 'Must have taken a while to carve out these paintings.' He saw Manfred looking at something on the cave wall. It was a mammoth family. The big one looked like him, while the other two seemed to be his family. As soon as Sid came into view talking Diego then said, "Hey Sid!" Sid replied, "Yeah." "Shut up!!" They all looked at Manfred as he dazed out looking at the wall. They couldn't see it, but felt that because of the humans, he lost his family.

Sora then said, "I'm sorry Manfred. I didn't know." He didn't respond. That's when the group saw the little kid touch his trunk as he had done before on the trip there. Manfred stiffed up a lip and then said, "We'd better go. If we don't hurry the clan will be gone for good." The group nodded and left the cave as fast as they could. They neared the glacier pass where they would soon find the humans, but Diego ran in front as if to stop them. Tidus then asked, "What's the hold up Diego?" Diego then confessed that he was still with a clan of smilodon who were trying to kill the baby and attacked the humans a few weeks ago at their camp site. Luckily Diego then came up with a plan to get rid of his leader Soto.

Sure enough the smilodon pack was waiting for Diego and then through trickery Diego tricked the clan into attacking a sloth that came from the pass with the 'baby'. Behind him was Sora and the others just waiting for a fight. They attacked with all of their might, but it was all for not. Yuffie then said, "It's useless. We're never gonna beat them without that armour of yours." Sora then replied, "We don't need the Sacred Protection. Things may look bleak, but we can't just give up." Sora, Riku and Mickey summoned their keyblades and attacked the smilodon one at a time. The only one left was Soto and he was in the middle of a fight with Diego.

Unfortunately he was injured from saving Manfred's neck from being crunched by Soto. Yet when he saw the look in Soto's eyes as he gazed on the kid in the fur clothing Manfred lashed out his trunk at Soto and then he hit a cavern wall making icicles fall from above thus impaling him. The fight was over. Yet the kid looked down at Diego who still was on the ground injured and most likely looked like he was dying. Diego then said, "Hey knock it off squirt. You gotta be brave, to protect Manfred and Sid. Especially Sid." Sid got a weird confused look on his face, and the others couldn't help, but laugh a little. Diego then said, "The humans are on the pass above the glacier, you'd best hurry if you're gonna catch up." They then ran off as Manfred said to Diego, "Thanks. You didn't have to, but above all else I'm glad you were helping us."

The group traveled up the pass to find a pack of humans traveling across the peak and one who just stood staring the pass behind him. He stared at Manfred and soon saw Sora with him. He readied his spear thinking Sora was in trouble. Manfred held onto the spear, but then some of the other humans saw this and ran back to help out their friend. Sora reached up and put the kid down to the ground and as soon as they did this that human raised his hands telling his comrades not to attack. He looked at his infant child and smiled while looking at him and Manfred. They turned back to leave the pass. Yet the kid reached his hand out to touch Manfred and when the human saw this he went back and put a necklace on Manfred's right tusk as a token of gratitude for returning his child to him. The humans left and as they did Diego showed up said his little good bye to kid from afar by covering his face and showing it as a form of peek-a-boo.

Sora then said, "Diego!! You're alive!!" The group then ran in to greet the big cat and he then said, "Ah come on!! I'm a cat. Cats have nine lives after all." The group laughed and Sora and his group soon said their goodbyes to Manfred and his group. Manfred then went with Sora to a private spot alone and discussed their adventure. Manfred then said, "So where do you think you'll go next?" Sora then replied, "I dunno. I guess wherever the wind takes me. Only thing I know is there are still many worlds out there that need my help." Manfred grabbed Sora with his trunk and hugged him. Sora smiled and hugged Manfred back. He saw a tear run down the giant's face. Sora plucked it and wiped in on his pants. Manfred then said, "Thank you Sora. Before I met you guys, I was always alone. Never felt like I had any friends. I didn't trust anyone or anything, but because of people like you or Riku or even Sid, I have changed. I feel warm and full of happiness. I know that you'll do what's right." Sora stared at the sky and then nodded towards Manfred. Manfred then said, "Hey Sora." "Yeah Manfred?" Manfred pulled Sora closer. "Always keep your heart close to you. It always can help you, even when things are at their lowest you can always count on it to help you when things get tough." Sora nodded again and said his good bye to Manfred and the others watched as Manfred, Diego and Sid walked down the Glacier Peak towards the prairies.

Meanwhile, back in Castle Oblivion, Victor had recently created a replica of Camelot's round table with fourteen chairs and Victor's chair being the biggest. Each of the hooded figures were all over the table discussing on how to get rid of Victor. One of them with a Portuguese accent said, "Let's cook them like omelettes." One with a Chinese accent said, "Let's chop them up and feed them to the fishes." One with an Austrian accent (technically German, but there's still a nationality issue) said, "Let's make them suffer one by one." Finally Victor stood up and raised his hands. He said, "I like your ideas. I really do, but there is just one problem. You're thinking like an average villain does. Observe the major villains I have seen in my travels." Victor then shut off the lights and showed them video on movie screen. It showed Myotismon getting destroyed by Angewoman, Mario defeating Bowser, Buzz Lightyear beating Emperor Zurg, and Spiderman beating the Green Goblin (from the 2002 movie, no cartoons).

Victor then said, "Now gentlemen what do all of these villains have in common?" A black hooded man with a strong French accent then said, "Do they all use a villains code to fight?" Victor nodded. "Very good. You guessed it my French commodore. They all fought with a villainous code. Not too smart and not very effective it is. We're gonna play by my rules now." Then a hooded man with an American accent then said, "Yet they keep saving worlds bit by bit. Nothing can stand in their way, even when you took their powers they're still doing it." Victor snapped his fingers and the screen rose up to the top ceiling and the lights flickered on. "Not if we do this right they won't. We need to hit them hard and fast so they don't recover their powers in time. They may not have them now, but the effects are only temporary. The slightest bit of affection could trigger it." Then a black hooded man with a Japanese accent then said, "Perhaps I could be of assistance my liege." Victor pulled down his hood and smiled at the eager associate of his.


	19. Chapter 18: Dawn of the Samurai

**Dawn of the Samurai**

The group had soon found themselves back in Radiant Garden. Leon and Merlin decided to hold the group at bay until further notice before going anywhere. Sora then asked, "What's the hold up? Victor could be taking over another world now, while we're just sitting on our butts. We should get moving." Leon then added, "The only thing you'll get is a bunch of bruises and scratches if you go and fall into one of Victor's traps again. He easily took your powers away and Merlin and I have been working like crazy to figure why." Merlin stood up and said, "Which is why we're not letting you go that easily. We've been figuring out what Victor's power of light is like. Ironically, the powers that you, Riku, and the King have are nothing more than copies of the original." The group gasped and fell to the floor. Riku then said, "Back up for one second. You mean to tell us that we've been had since the last few pages of Anastasia's journal. We used those powers to fight heartless and Victor's henchmen. How are they copies then?" Leon pressed a button on the keyboard and on the screen was a page on Victor and his brothers. His older Brother was taller than him and his hair was darker than his while his little brother was smaller than him and his hair was strawberry brown instead of chesnut. It was called "The Perfect Trio".

Leon said, "These guys defeated some of the most dangerous villains in the entire universe. What's more when they did, they discovered the most unique place in the universe. It's known as The Eternal Beyond. There they discovered three platforms the middle being the highest and the one to its right being the lowest. It was there that they discovered the powers of light, darkness, and balance themselves. The swords though, are still yet a mystery." There was a light outside the house and sure enough they saw a gate when going outside, but with a Samurai as a symbol this time around. They then decided to go and open the gate and to head onto that world. Merlin stopped the group for a brief moment. "Wait. Leon and I have discovered that this world is one of the worlds Victor has taken over. It won't be easy trying to survive in there. Your majesty, I would advise that you take good care of the group while traveling." The group set out into the gate except Mickey who then said, "Listen Merlin. I know it may seem like a lost cause, but you and Leon have to remember that those kids are the next generation of heroes. They have to take risks. If they don't now when will they? Besides Victor had the same issue on his planet. They didn't think he would turn out so well either and look at him right now." Merlin shook his head and knew it was useless to argue and Mickey soon left through the gate as well. Meanwhile, that purple demon was above Merlin's house spying on their every move.

The group soon found themselves in the middle of a large field covered with Cherry Blossom Trees and Mountain Ranges as far as the eye could see. Sora then said, "Pretty cool place. I wonder where we are anyway." Jiminy Cricket then popped out and said, "I've heard of this place. I always heard the townsfolk from my world talk about this place. They call it Cherry Blossom Fields, home of the samurai. It has been for told by generations that a group of them called the Genji Clan has been at war with the Heishi for a while now. Sadly the group led by Minamoto-no-Yoshitomo was sadly defeated by Taira-no-Kiyomori. Now the Genji clan is all but scattered." Riku then asked, "So who can we trust?" Mickey saw a group of warriors with samurai swords and heartless symbols on their armour. "Looks like there's only one way to find out Riku." Sora, Riku, and Mickey summoned their keyblades and the group was separated by a huge shield closing them with the heartless samurai.

**Flashback**

"I'm terribly sorry Mr. and Mrs. Nazarevich. However, we just can't teach your child.", a man in a white cloak holding a clipboard said. A woman in a red dressed suit said, "There has to be a way. He can do great things, but you have to give him a chance. For God's sake he's only four." A man wearing glasses and in a black suit then held his wife's right hand to comfort her. He then said, "There must be something we can arrange for our son to get into your school." The man shook his head. "I'm sorry, but your son can't simply get in like that. He's not like the other children. Mark my words, if he isn't killed now, dare I say it he'll be a menace to us all!!" The man grabbed the white cloaked man's shirt in anger. "Are you saying my son is the devil then?" The man pulled himself back in reassurance. He then said, "I can only suggest one thing. You'd best go to a school where he can actually learn something. He's never going to talk unless he gains confidence."

**Present**

Sora, Riku and Mickey kept fighting off the samurai, but were just starting to feel the effects of fighting too much. Riku then said, "They just keep coming and coming. I don't know if I can go on for much longer." Sora then said, "Not with that attitude you won't. We can't give in. Not now Riku." In the distance they saw two beings appear and slash all the heartless in the area. One was rather tall and looked buff. He looked to be a man of at least thirty. He wore red armour and was bald at the top of his head. He wore black pants and shoes to finish off his exterior. The guy next to him looked younger, much closer to Riku or Sora's age. He had black hair and wore white clothing all over except for his chest and shoes which were black. They stared at Sora and the rest of the keybearers and then knelt down to show their respect just as the barrier faded away.

At first they didn't know how to respond to this, but eventually Sora and the others brought the two warriors to their feet. Sora said, "It's ok. You don't have to bow or anything. We're just visitors." The boy with the white clothing put his hand on Sora's shoulder and said, "No, we must thank you. For if you didn't show up when you did, this village would've been destroyed. The Heishi have been hunting us day and night in search of a crystal known as the Amahagane." Donald then quacked, "Amahagane?" The boy in white clothing went on to explain that the Amahagane was a sacred power used for dealing with one's opponents. Who ever so held these trinkets could be considered unstoppable. What's more they could even be combined into a more stronger version of the crystal by a woman named Lady Shizuka, or known throughout the land as "Priestess of the Tamayori." They also said that they just narrowly escaped an attack by the Heishi's number two Taira Kagekiyo. He as well his friend just barely escaped with their lives. Their master Kiichi Hogen told them to go to Oushu Hiraigval where they could enhance their power by Lady Shizuka and stand a chance against the emerging Heishi threat.

"Forgive me, I haven't even introduced myself. I am Minamoto Yoshitsune. This tall guy next to me is my friend Benkei." Sora gave a wave to Benkei and introduced himself and the others as well. They told him that a boy in a white hooded suit as well as thirteen others in black hooded suits were causing trouble to other worlds and taking them over one by one. They both agreed to help each other out in case one or the other or even both threats should appear in the same place. They then set off to Oushu Hiraigval to train and possibly figure out more things about the Heishi themselves. They didn't realize it at first, but they were being watched, by a man in black hooded suit.

They eventually made it to Oushu Hiraigval. The entire mountain was covered in snow and it just kept coming down in buckets. They gazed upon the Japanese architecture and it was a divine wine red coloured roofs with wooden support and stairs along with paper made doors to complete each home and building. It was quiet in the little mountain town. Almost too quiet. Tidus then said, "Maybe they just up left. I would, I mean look at this place. Its so cold my mucus is turning into icicles." The group got grossed out when he said this because he was telling the truth. Tow icicles lay under his nose. Riku then said, "Yeah that's nice. One thing though. It's a little too much info." The group saw a black hooded man in the middle of the street and then Sora rushed up and summoned his keyblade to attack. Sora then said, "Just who are you? What are you doing here?" The figure turned around to face Sora and pulled down his hood to reveal an Asian looking fellow with long black hair and a soft complexion on his face. He had yellow eyes and when he smiled his teeth looked small for his jaws. He began to speak and his accent was Japanese.

"I am Oshuja. I am, but a mere fraction of who I used to be. I have no heart." Sora got confused and then said, "So are you a nobody then?" He shook his head. "I am not that of who you say I am. I used to be human, but I am not a nobody because I have no desire to become a human or take hold a heart. The only purpose I have is to finish you off." Then Yoshitsune ran in next to Sora. Sora asked, "What are you doing Yoshitsune? You should be getting the others to safety." Yoshitsune turned to him and said, "Remember what we promised. We are to help each other out. No matter what the cost." He smiled to Sora and vice versa. They then fought the menace. He wielded a sword like no other. It was super thin and sliced the air so quick it actually left fire and smoke in mid air.

Sora and Yoshitsune went right then left then right and then ganged up on him with ease. Yet Oshuja was just getting warmed up. He ran underneath Sora's legs and sliced his shirt as well as Yoshitsune's shirt. They kept on trying to fight him, but he was too quick and agile. Even with Sora's Master Form from his garments couldn't help him now. Oshuja knocked the keyblade from Sora's hands and Yoshitsune's swords from his hands. He readied himself to kill Sora on contact, but unknown to him Sora called back his keyblade in time just to make a last resort of defense. Oshuja then said, "What? How is this possible?" Sora then pushed him back and said, "The keyblade is my power. With it nothing is impossible!!" With that final statement he slashed Oshuja. There was a big hole in his garments and Oshuja was bleeding from his stomach. Oshuja then said, "Very impressive. Yet this is only the beginning Sora. We shall meet again. When we do, the outcome will be much different." Oshuja disappeared in a black aura while Sora attended to Yoshitsune to see how he was holding up. Before he could ask the group saw two soldiers come their way who soon told them to come with them.

They found themselves in a big ancient building of the sort. There they saw a white haired woman in fine purple clothing sitting who had been expecting them. She was Lady Shizuka and had told them that deep in the mountain range was a temple that was built to honour a legendary spirit Kegikodo. The group soon headed off for the temple, fighting many heartless samurai along the way. The temple was golden painted and there was six ancient stone made candle lights placed three straight on the left and right headed towards a large stairway of the sort. Yoshitsune then said, "I'm sorry, but in these holy places only Benkei and I alone can go into. You are all from outside our world, and it is forbidden for anyone besides inhabitants here to enter." Sora nodded and said, "You guys do what you have to do and we'll hold the fort here." Yoshitsune and Benkei then entered the temple and as they did more heartless samurai soon appeared. Riku then said, "Ah man. Just when we were about to get comfortable." Mickey then said, "Look at it this way Riku. At least it's just these guys. I'd hate to have to fight anyone else." Riku nodded and the group quickly finished off the heartless.

They all soon sat down to relax, but a few minutes later they saw a man with long black hair and wore red clothing from top to bottom. He had soft skin like Yoshitsune, except with a rougher look to him and his eyes were red and was tall like Benkei, but a lot shorter than him. Mickey said, "Who are you? What do you want with us?" The man laughed and smirked a sinister smile on his face. "You are none of my concern. However, my spies say that Yoshitsune and Benkei have been traveling with you. Is that true?" Tidus then asked, "What if we said no?" The man pulled out his sword and combined it with his case to make a double headed speared weapon. The man said, "If you did that I would be forced to kill you, whether you said yes or no." Then Yoshitsune said, "Kagekiyo!! I should have known you'd be here." Goofy raised his shield for battle and then said, "That must be some fast training if you guys are done this fast." The two nodded in agreement. Yoshitsune said, "That is Taira Kagekiyo. He is Taira Kiyomori's number two helping out the Heishi cause. They want to use Amahagane to destroy us and all who would oppose them. He even killed Kiichi Hogen when he protected us." Kagekiyo then said, "I wouldn't worry Yoshitsune. You'll soon be joining him as well as your father. This time you won't escape again."

The group readied themselves for battle and Sora, Riku and Mickey got their keyblades out. Yet only Sora and Yoshitsune were encased inside a barrier with Kagekiyo in it. The others were merely spectators now. Kagekiyo was a master swordsman in the Heishi clan and was so powerful that when he launched out a magical purple aura from his blades they pierced the barrier. They kept on coming with their attacks, but nothing seemed to work. Yet Sora felt a calm breeze against himself. Even when the others told him to focus on the battle he felt it and a golden aura appeared on him. When Kagekiyo took advantage of this and hit him he got shocked and blown away. That gave Yoshitsune enough time to counter attack Kagekiyo and leave him injured. Kagekiyo said, "How could I lose? To mere children. Mark my words. This isn't over. I shall get the Amahagane and when I do, you two will be the first to suffer." Kagekiyo then climbed up the mountain cliffs and jumped from each one until he was out of sight for good.

The group headed off back to Oushu Hiraigval only to find that Lady Shizuka had been kidnapped. What was odd was that Kagekiyo nor Kiyomori's minions did this. It was a boy in a white hooded suit. Sora then thought, "Victor." and the others headed off outside to make their way back east to the cherry blossom gardens of Kyoto. When the group finally made it back, Sora asked, "How do you know that he'd be here Yoshitsune?" He said, "It's quite simple actually. If this person you told us about is really out to control worlds he's going to go after a lot of people. Kyoto is home to more than a thousand people here in this place alone. Even when our world was taken over, there were still rebels attempting to hide or fight this menace you spoke of. Who knows, they could even lead us to him or Kiyomori." They both nodded and saw a traveling merchant passing by. He was asked by them if he saw a black hooded or white hooded boy or man pass by. He saw a black hooded man pass into a portal leading to Kiyomori's Castle. He said he also saw a woman getting dragged into it as well.

The group found the portal just as they man had said and they went right into it. There they saw Oshuja and Victor talking, but Victor soon disappeared with Lady Shizuka just as Sora and the others arrived. Oshuja laughed and said to them, "It would appear that you are all too late. The woman will make a fine trinket to the master's collection. He told me to keep you at bay should you happen to defeat Kagekiyo." Sora ran up and called his keyblade forth. "I've had enough of you. It's one thing to just attack us, but kidnapping someone as well. Now you've gone too far!!" Oshuja then said, "Big words from a small boy. Very well. Let's settle this in a one on one duel. Just you and me will be fighting. Agreed?" Sora looked at everyone else and they all nodded knowing that he had the power to do it. He then looked at Oshuja and said, "Agreed!!"

A barrier appeared and Sora ran up to attack Oshuja. He took out his thin sword and repelled Sora with ease. Sora transformed into his Master Form and couldn't even scratch him. Oshuja kept slashing Sora so much that he started to bleed from his mouth and his chest. Sora kept on going though trying everything he could to fight off the warrior. Yet it was to no avail. He kept coming back and kept slashing Sora so much he was badly injured. Sora fell to the ground and the rest of the group closed their eyes not wanting to look at the next scene at all. Oshuja stood over Sora's chest and raised his sword up nice and high. Oshuja then said, "I hope you've had a good life. Cuz this is where it ends boy!!" Sora yelled as loud as he could and his golden armour as well as the sword of light appeared just in time to protect him. The group opened their eyes to see that Sora had gained back his powers. Oshuja's eyes pricked up and he said, "This is impossible. There is no way you should have got them back. No matter, my master gave me the ability to call your powers back." Oshuja snapped his fingers but nothing happened. He kept on doing it and nothing happened. "Why won't it work. I should have gotten your powers back by now." Sora then said with his ripply voice, "You can't call it back. It's because I have dedication to Kairi in my heart and because of it I know I will see her again. It's because of my love for her that my power has returned." Sora then slashed Oshuja and soon Oshuja's sword dropped out of his hand. It disappeared into nothingness. Oshuja then collapsed and turned into nothingness as well leaving behind a page to Anastasia's journal. It was section # 12.

The group ran off to fight Kiyomori, but a barrier closed off Yoshitsune and Benkei inside the gateway into the castle this time. The group however had to deal with more samurai heartless. They seemed to keep coming and coming. Pretty soon the entire area was swarming with them. As this happened Sora disappeared and reappeared in front of Kagekiyo and Yoshitsune. Kagekiyo stared at Sora's new suit and said, "Very impressive armour. Let's see how it will fare against my steel." They then fought Kagekiyo once more. This time though he was much stronger and faster. Yoshitsune told Sora that he combined the Amahagane himself and became more powerful than ten thousand soldiers put together. Sora kept pushing back, but it still wasn't enough. Kagekiyo easily beat Sora and Yoshitsune. They were on the ground severly injured (Sora even more so because of his previous fight with Oshuja) and were weak from fighting. Kagekiyo laughed and said, "Pathetic. I expected you to be much stronger than that. Instead you insult me with weak attacks." Sora and Yoshitsune closed their eyes and held hands as a gesture of friendship. When they did this they soon morphed together and became a new warrior. He had white elbowed and knee padded armour as well as the helmet was white while the rest of the armour was golden coloured.

The two were no longer Sora and Yoshitsune. Kagekiyo then laughed again and said, "Who are you supposed to be? A warlock of some sort?" The being consisted of Sora's voice and Yoshitsune's voice in unision saying, "I am Ankylo. I am a legendary warrior from years past and my only purpose is to defend the weak and innocent." Kagekiyo tried to attack, but his sword was repelled and destroyed. Ankylo grabbed Kagekiyo by his neck and threw him in the air. He then yelled Fighting Strike and that was the end for Kagekiyo.

Pretty soon the area was cleansed of the heartless and the area glowed white and returned to its original state. Sora and Yoshitsune separated and pretty soon had to say their goodbyes. Yoshitsune said, "I don't know how I could possibly thank you. You did it Sora. Thanks to you and your friends the land is safe for my people to live in again. I pray that someday you may return again." Sora then said, "Who knows maybe I will. Victor is still at large and he may want this world back once he hears what we did here." Donald then said, "Hopefully he won't hear about it too soon." The group laughed at the comment and soon left Benkei and Yoshitsune in the gardens of Kyoto. In Radiant Garden they saw a purple demon at the front door and next to him was Merlin and Leon awaiting the group just coming from their journey in Cherry Blossom Fields.


	20. Chapter 19: Never Judge a Book

Never Judge a Book by Its Cover

The group saw Merlin and Leon staring at them as well as a purple demon. Tidus then said, "Hey what's up?" Merlin then said, "I don't believe it. You all actually survived." The others looked at each other shrugged their shoulders and then Sora asked, "What are you talking about? You didn't believe we could do it?" Leon said, "That was a world heavily guarded by Victor's troops. Had he decided to he could've sent them to go and obliterate you. In other words you just escaped with your lives." Riku stared at the purple demon next to Leon. He was slim, at least six feet tall and he had purple wings and a tail at the end where his butt is. (No, He isn't quite nude. I'm sticking to the details of the Tekken Series. So thus his 'schlong' is not even on his body. I'm just gonna stop right there.) Either way the demon was leaning on Merlin's house with his eyes closed, his arms crossed, and he was completely relaxed. Riku then asked, "So who's this guy supposed to be? Is he a new intern at Merlin's school or something?" Sora whispered to Donald, "He has a school?"

The demon then brought himself to move and stretch his arms. "That's real funny kid. Except you're all missing the point. If it weren't for me distracting that annoying kid and his new friends you all would've been trash by now." The group gasped as they heard this. Mickey said, "Come to think of it I knew something wasn't quite right about that place. Merlin told me that I had to protect you guys, but there wasn't really much protecting to do." Riku then changed the subject saying, "You still haven't answered my question yet. Who are you?" The demon shook his head as he stared at the white haired teen with his curious yellow eyes. "Alright then let me explain everything."

Flashback

Leon stared at the sky just as Sora and the group left into the gate with the sabre tooth cat on it as a symbol. He saw something coming right at Merlin and him very fast. "Hey Merlin. Have you recently got some new help at your lab?" Merlin looked at Leon and said, "Why no of course not. What would make you say that?" Leon then said, "Probably nothing, but I'd think you might want to look at this." Merlin looked at the demon saying egad as he finally landed right in front of Leon. Leon took out his sword and asked, "Who are you? What's your business here?" The demon then said, "Oh please. You really think that's going to threaten me? You don't know me well." Leon stood his ground as Merlin took out his wand. "Oh fine. Listen I don't mean you all harm. Let's go inside to chat shall we?" Reluctantly they agreed and went inside Merlin's house.

Hours passed by when they finally finished their conversation. Leon then said, "So you were Victor's teacher then. You were the one who adopted him and made him a fighter." The demon nodded and said, "Yes I did. I wanted him to do my work and carry on what I had started. Oh but where are my manners. My name is Kazuya or at least in my human form I am him. Long story short I got possessed when I was a kid and since then I have had the powers of a demon. Didn't matter though because even though I did teach Victor everything he went and disobeyed me. He had his first taste of defeat when a man by the name of 'Captain Hero' came and defeated him at his game of crime. Victor vowed to take him down. I told him to take him out right there and then, but he didn't listen. I then told him that we would meet eight years, but when we did finally cross paths it was he who was the 'victor' in the end. I had perished and was only brought back to life when Victor was transported to another planet and had lost all of his memories. Ironically, it was the same time Sora had lost his memories, if I do know your history with him right. I might add it has no relevance, but either way the point is I would like to help you all out."

Leon then asked, "Help us? Why would you do that? You're still a villain of Victor's so shouldn't you be evil or something?" Kazuya shook his head. "No. I'm far from that now-a-days. Since Victor and his brothers were good guys when this happened we were brought back as good people instead or beings if you will. I simply want to see that that boy gets his just desserts for betraying me. I also figure that if he gets a good glimpse at Sora, he may even turn good again. For Anastasia's sake he has to be." They both looked at him and gasped. Merlin asked, "How do you know about Anastasia?" Kazuya then responded, "We met a long time ago, just two years before Victor and her met again. While Victor was battling the Legion with his brothers, I was getting acquainted with the girl on Saryu. I appeared in her dorm room, but she wasn't afraid of me. She started asking me questions and vice versa. Soon we became friends and I vowed that I would soon get them together again. Soon after my defeat, Victor was separated and transported to the Anime Planet, where everyone is all anime and everything is anime. It is there that he got closer with her." They soon figured out that from Anastasia's journal she was saved on Earth, but Victor ran away and wasn't seen with her until they met again on the Anime planet. Merlin then said, "Well that explains the tears on sections ten to thirteen. So then how are you going to help us then?" Kazuya stood up and headed for the door. He then said, "I'll do what I can to help them out. You just keep doing your research. You're going to need all the information you can get."

Present

The others looked to the demon, except Sora. He was still pondering at the ground. 'So was all of that work I did for nothing then?' Sora then felt a finger raise his chin up and it was the last person he thought would do it. He saw Kairi. It was her. He couldn't believe it. It was her. "Hey Sora. You know I don't like seeing you like that you know." Sora perked up a smile so huge that it was the size of a freight train metaphorically. "Kairi!!" The girl then looked surprised and suddenly changed into Anastasia.

Sora stared with his eyes in shock. His smile turned into gasp, his palms became sweaty, and soon enough his face turned so red he looked like a bottle of ketchup. To make it worse, the entire group was laughing like crazy. The demon then picked Sora up and then put him down next to him. Sora asked, "Uh what're you doing?" The devil then said, "I need to know something. How did you gain those powers back. I saw that wretched boy snatch them away." Sora shook his head not knowing what to expect. Mickey then said, "I can tell ya. The Sacred Protection is so powerful that even the most unlikely heroes can be born. When Sora was in danger, his thoughts of Kairi restored them to their natural order."

Kazuya then said, "That's not the point. I don't really care about any of that. What does matter is that Victor is currently going after Princesses of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water right now as we speak." Merlin, Leon and Mickey gasped as they heard this. Goofy then asked, "Have you heard of them your majesty?" Mickey nodded. Mickey then said, "A long time ago, before Victor or his brothers were born, there was a huge battle that reined inside their galaxy. It was between the people of Sanshobi and the people of Saryu over dominance of the planet of Saryu. The war lasted for decades and many lives were lost because of it. I was one of those warriors battling on the side of Saryu. Of course I was only a rookie back then. Either way, the only way that the war did come to an end was when both the kings and queens of both planets were killed and they soon appointed other leaders to take over the planets as well as the planet of Terraneus, the earth planet and Ailiana." Anastasia brushed her hair in breeze as she listened to the conversation. She then said, "I remember that. My daddy always used to tell me stories about that war. He said that he was only ten when he was in it. He lost his uncle in that war. Either way, the only way they could end the war was by appointing the kings and queens' daughters to look after the planets after they deceased. I'm the next in line to take over after my father passes on to the Nether Realm." Sora then said, "So then Victor's going after the princesses then of each of those planets. That means he'll be after you too." Anastasia shook her head. "Not necessarily because I have a sister who's a few years older than me. When the kings and queens of old made this new law come to pass it was said that only the eldest daughter could take up the torch unless the family had only one single daughter. So Victor can't go after me even if he wanted to. He wouldn't do that. I know him better than that."

Kazuya then began to walk away slightly, but before he could get away Sora had just caught him. Sora asked, "Where are you going in such a hurry? Got more things on your to do list?" Kazuya said, "Look, I'm just going to stretch my legs. I guarantee if I'm not back in twenty minutes I encourage you to come find me." Sora got a tiny frown on his face as he saw Kazuya disappear around the corner. Riku then said, "I'll be right back too. I want to stretch my legs too. Come on Sora." Sora pointed a finger at himself and Riku nodded with a 'no duh you man' kind of look and ran off around the bend. "So why did you want me to come Riku?", Sora asked. Riku then said, "Kazuya is obviously up to something. There's no way he would tell us all of that stuff about Victor and just up and run. This was a set up. I know it is." Sora then said, "Well if it is he's doing a good job of it." They spotted Kazuya talking to a man in a hooded suit in a parking lot. They both sat and listened behind an alley corner hearing every word that came out of their mouths.

"Where's Nai?", said the hooded man who had an Australian accent. "He's gone. To prove it I have a page from the girl's journal." Sora then saw Section # 9 of Anastasia's journal in his hand and asked, "What would we want with that?" Riku covered his mouth and said, "You'll give us away if you're any louder. Now quiet." The hooded man then said, "Very good then. You kept your end of the bargain and now I'll keep mine. Legend has it that my master wants to go after the princesses of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water because of their immense power. With that much strength nothing could stand in his way." Kazuya then gave him a bag filled with gold. Kazuya said, "I have a new propostion then. I will pay you ten more bags of the stuff if you can get me more dirt on this power of Victor's desire." They were silent for five minutes. "Well?", he said. "So do we have a deal then?", said the hooded man. Kazuya said, "Yes we do. However, you have to promise to not hurt the princesses. I helped out their parents ages ago and I gave them my word I would never harm their daughters." The hooded man laughed saying, "Dude, you just wasted a good money maker right here. What makes you think I won't harm them. I mean the master wants their energy force for his new project and all." "Project?" The hooded man continued saying, "It's just some powerful life force that can only be activated by ten special women and three special men as he calls them. It all has to do with a legend from his planet. It doesn't really matter to me what happens to the chicks. They're not my problem. Either way, that's I why you just wasted your time. Just for doing that I'm tripling your budget and as for the kids in the alley, they better not be spies." Riku and Sora gasped and Sora asked, "How'd he know we were here? We didn't move or anything." Riku said, "Who cares? Let's just get the heck outta here."

The hooded man then appeared in front of Sora and Riku and took out a canon as his weapon. He pulled down his hood to reveal a blonde guy with long hair and a mustache and beard to finish off. He in a sense looked like Ansem the Wise. "Going somewhere bro?" Sora and Riku prepared for a blast to come out of his canon. But Instead saw a tall figure jump in front of the canon and received the blast and pain from it. Sora asked, "But why? Why did you do this?" Kazuya said, "Does it really matter now? What I do is merely insignificant. I learned that the hard way from Victor. Listen kid, there isn't much time. You and the others best leave for the worlds of Terraneus, Saryu, and Ailiana. I only have enough strength to summon the gates to those three places." Riku ran off and stared at Sora. "Come on Sora. We gotta get going. Victor could be over there causing havoc as we sit on touches here." Sora then said, "Kazuya, what about you though?" The purple demon said as he held the canon above the blonde man's head, "I'll do what I can. Trust me, he's the not the only fool I've faced before and he won't be the last. Now go." Sora said, "Kazuya." and then ran off with Riku back to Merlin's house.

Sure enough the gates were there, but they were covered by three thick barriers. Merlin looked at the gates and said, "Looks like the barriers are made of a rare Chinese sutra crafted from bamboo and many other hard minerals. Even my magic can't do anything to help us now." Leon knocked his hand gently on the barrier to Terraneus and said, "No doubt. Those things aren't going anywhere without some good spells." Riku then said, "Well that's it then. How are we going to manage this now. We have no way to open the barriers." Anastasia shook her head and said, "Oh yes we do. Thanks to the tridium I found on this planet I can create a gate of my own. In this next world there is a way of opening the other gates, but you must collect the Mask of Horror, the Staff of Insanity, and the Snake Chained Whip of Mutiny. Only with those trinkets can we open the gates be opened." Donald then said, "So how do you know all of this then. If I remember correctly you said that you spent most of your time learning about the Sacred Protection." Anastasia then said, "Its just something I remembered as a child. My dad would always tell me these wild stories of how he along with his friends saved their worlds from destruction. Looks like its our turn now." The group nodded and they saw another gate appear as Anastasia summoned it. It had a picture of a dagger on it and pretty soon the entire group left right into it. As they did, Kazuya appeared from around the corner and collapsed near the gate to Ant Island.

Meanwhile, back at Castle Oblivion, Victor was preparing his project to begin its pre-functions of development. There were only five spots left and there were three recent ones made beside the chained encasements for the women he captured. One of the hooded men came and then asked for an audience with him. He had a Spanish accent. "He what?", the boy asked. The Spanish hooded man said, "Please forgive me master. I didn't know what would become of the poor senor. The situation was totally out my hands." Then they both heard a laugh and it was another hooded man, but this time with a British accent. He said, "Oh please. You let this happen on purpose just because you didn't want to take a risk. My lord, I guarantee that once those fools enter Azad, they'll never be able to leave. My Persian friend was quite reliable and willing to help. Attm is already there with the vizier and the plan is already underway." Victor pulled his hood down and said, "Good work Kered. I knew I could count on you at least. As for you, Ceir. You'd better pray that you don't screw up the next part of the plan. We've already lost three men as it is and I don't want to lose anymore as of right now. Is that clear?" "But Master I…" "Is that Clear?", the white hooded boy yelled. "Yes senor. I shalln't fail again, gracias." Victor stormed out in anger leaving his two associates to talk out their next plans.


	21. Chapter 20: The Sands of Time

The Sands of Time

The group had been transported to another world yet again. However, this world wasn't so ordinary though. The sky was darkened by clouds and they saw sand-like creatures with red eyes. They also had rings around their heads just like the one Pete had when they were at Mickey's Castle. The group spied on the sand creatures from a distant oasis. Mickey then said, "We're too late. This world's been already taken over. Now listen fellas. I'm only gonna say this once. We got to stick together this time around. I've heard of this place. It's called The King's Desert and from what I've heard it's not a good place for us to be in." Sora then said, "I suppose even if it weren't being controlled by Victor and patrolled by sand creatures it would still be a killing field then."

Riku looked and saw a nearby palace in the distance. "Hey your majesty is that the palace of Azad there?", Riku asked. Mickey nodded and said, "I've been there before. That was also when I was still a rookie. I helped out the people of Azad when they were being invaded ages ago. I don't know how I can help them out now." Sora then put his hand on the mouse's shoulder and said with a grin, "Just leave it to us. We'll save this world and everyone in it." Mickey couldn't disagree and they all decided to head off to the palace to figure out where the source of all the rings' power was. They soon entered into a large hallway that looked pretty beat up and broken down. They heard noises coming the main chamber of the palace and decided to go and investigate. They entered the large room to find a soldier in white pants and a blue royal shirt fought many of the sand creatures along with a dark skinned woman in a Red Indian dress who had a bow and a good set of arrows at her side. The soldier had brown hair and a slight beard at the bottom of his chin and face. He had a brown belt around his left shoulder down to his right hip and he had brown wrist pads he wore on his left and right arms. He had blue eyes and wielded a golden rimmed black sword with some form of Arabic writing in his left hand while in the other was a blue glowing dagger.

The woman beside him had gold leg chains on either side and golden wrist chains on each of arms. She had brown eyes and she had a tiny brown belt go across from her right hip to her left. They both looked and resembled that of Aladdin and Jasmine in a sense. They were fighting a big sand creature in blue clothing and he had a group of sand creatures all around him helping him fight off the proud soldier and the girl. The soldier plucked one guy off and then stared for the first time at the group of visitors in front of him. The soldier said, "Well, are you going to help us or what? These creatures are all over the place." The group ran in and then began fighting each sand creature in the room. Sora then tried to destroy a big creature except his keyblade got stuck in his body and he got brushed off like candy. "Hey what's going on? Why aren't they disappearing?" The soldier then said, "It's the curse. No matter how hard you try you can't destroy them. They're made of sand. I have to suck them into my dagger here." They saw a blue hued dagger and Sora then said, "Go ahead then. Be my guest!!" The soldier then sucked each creature one by one into his dagger. Finally when they were sucked into the dagger, an old man with a staff and in purple clothing came out and saw all of the commotion. "You won't get away next time foolish prince. Mark my words.", said the old man as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Sora then noticed that the prince's shirt was torn up and had blood on it. "Oh no, you're bleeding!!" Farrah caught on to this and screamed as loud as she could while the Prince and everyone else covered their ears. "Be any louder why don't you? We already have plenty of those creatures after us as it is.", the Prince said. Farrah took out a few bandages and strapped them on to the Prince's wounds. Mickey then saw the prince and said, "Say I recognize you. You're King Sharaman's son aren't you? You're the Prince of Persia!!" The Prince nodded and asked, "How do you know who I am?" Mickey then said, "I'm a king as well like your father. You see way long before you were born, I helped your father battle some of the most terrifying armies of soldiers and it was because of me that he then rose up to become the king of Persia. In that way we're sort of like allies you and I." The Prince looked away. He then said, "How can we be? Especially since I just killed my father." The group gasped and Mickey saw the clothing of his good friend by the fountains of the main chamber. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you're father was cursed too." The Prince yelled, "Every last one of them was cursed by me!! This girl here knew about the dagger and tried to stop me, but I was tricked. Tricked by that wicked old man we just saw. This girl here is Farah, daughter of the Maharajah of India. He appointed that old man to be his Vizier and yet he tricked me into opening the hour glass and unleashing an ancient power known as 'The Sands of Time'. Because of my actions, my father and Farah's father along with the rest of the people in Azad were consume by it. The girl and I have been trying to reach the Tower of Dawn ever since. Farah said that if I could get the dagger into the hour glass the effects could be reversed and all actions proved null and void."

Donald and the rest of the group were silent and feeling sorry about the poor Prince. Sora then said, "That's quite some story you have there. Trust me, it doesn't help feeling sorry for yourself. It only makes the pain stronger. Listen, I know we haven't known each other for very long, but I want to help you out. In fact all of us do, right guys?" Everyone nodded and the Prince then stood to his feet. "But why? This has nothing to do with you. I won't allow it. I won't allow any more innocent lives to be lost. Farrah and I were only lucky because I had the Dagger of Time and she had a golden medallion she carries with her." The group noticed the medallion hanging around Farrah's neck. Riku then said, "It doesn't matter what you say. We all make mistakes. I for one have made a lot in the past." Riku stared at Sora who looked at him with respect. "Yet that hasn't stopped me from doing right thing though." The Prince reluctantly sighed and said, "I guess seeing as how I'm never going to convince you otherwise, you can all come. But don't lag behind, I don't want to have stop unnecessarily." Donald then said in a mocking voice, "I don't want to have to stop unnecessarily. I have half a mind to go over there and…" Mickey then said, "Quit it Donald. Okay, I admit it. He does seem to be a little into himself, but he's the one who has the power to fight those things. We can't simply destroy these creatures. They have to be sucked into the dagger. Let's face it, he's the only one who has the power to do it." The group nodded and then headed off with the Prince and Farrah into the next room to find a bridge to the Tower of Dawn.

Meanwhile, the Vizier was up on the bridge to the Tower of Dawn staring at the night sky when a man in a hooded suit appeared from a dark portal. He was much different from the others because he carried a book with him. What's more he had a Persian accent when he spoke. The hooded man then said, "I hope for your sake that you make the same mistake again. My master has little patience for failure." The Vizier then said, "I wouldn't be treating your elders like that if I were you Ohsj." The hooded man jumped a foot behind the Vizier and said, "You'd better pray that you stay living the next time you say my name again. Otherwise you'll never live another day or gain the power of being an immortal god." He then disappeared leaving the Vizier alone on the brick built bridge.

The group kept traveling up and up the amazing splendor of the palace until they came up upon a bridge built to get to certain parts of the palace. It was here that they could cross to the other side and get all the way to the Tower of Dawn. As they walked across, the Prince fell through a broken piece of the bridge and Farrah had just caught him with both of her hands. "Whatever you do don't let go!!", the girl said. "Like I have a choice." As he got pulled up the group noticed that the Prince was turning red and then Farrah asked, "Are you feeling okay?" The Prince reassured himself and tried slicing the air with his sword to make himself look tough. "Hmm…Of course. I've never better. Why do you ask?" Farah giggled a tiny bit and then continued walking across. She then said, "Oh it's nothing. It's just that your face is a little red." The Prince covered his face with his hands and then saw the entire group laughing. "My face isn't red!! It's just all of this heat and humidity." Riku said, "It's not even humid up here. There's no fog or anything. It's clear as daylight." The Prince snorted and then walked off looking like a proud warrior. Sora then said, "Yeesh. The poor guy doesn't know a joke when he hears one does he?" Mickey then said, "Okay you two. Enough horsing around. We got to get moving."

They group was soon on their way, every time that a joke or response about love and not a way to the Tower of Dawn came up the Prince was constantly cutting everyone down saying this was no time for a picnic. The group was constantly getting mad at him, but pretty soon after battling many sand creatures they found themselves looking at a huge tower that was at least a hundred and fifty feet high. Farah gasped and said, "There it is. There's the Tower of Dawn." The Prince looked at the tower and said, "Sure it's high enough. But does it have enough danger in there. Who knows? We may even see some ghosts up there." He hid behind a rock and as Farah walked his way he spooked the living daylights out of her. He laughed a little and kept walking up the stairs, but Farah got a bit of a frown on her face. "That's not funny. You startled me!!" Meanwhile, Sora shook his head and said, "Those two are hooked on each other aren't they?" Tidus then said, "Yep. Like a wide mouth bass is to my grandpa's fishing lure." The group entered inside the tower through a broken window into the top of the tower to find a room covered in gold and precious trinkets of the Maharajah and in the centre on a tall ledge was the Hourglass. The Prince said, "Be right back." and he climbed up the wall and ran as high as he could up it and jumped on top of the tower. Farrah then said while the others stared at the room in awe, "Go ahead. Put the dagger into the hourglass!! Strike it in the centre of the dome." As the Prince put the dagger halfway through into the hourglass' dagger patch he pulled it back in fat defiance.

The Prince said, "My father's army sacked your palace." Farah gasped and so did everyone else as they saw the Prince pull the dagger wondering what he was doing. "He captured you as a slave." Farah then said, "What?" The Prince responded saying, "You have every reason to hate me." She asked, "What are you talking about?" "Now you want me to trust you." Sora then said, "What are you waiting for? Go on. There's no time!!" Then the group heard a voice chanting an ancient Arabic spell in a dark corner of the room. It was the Vizier with the Staff of Insanity. They entire group got blown away in all directions from the hour glass. The Vizier then commanded, "Give me the Dagger!!" Farah was blown away from a column and dropped the dagger on the ground just as the Prince caught her hand. "Oh no!! The Dagger!! He mustn't get the dagger!!" The Vizier saw it lying on the ground and reached for it. However, before he could touch it, the Prince let go of the column and grabbed the dagger with quick speed.

The group got blown away and fell through a dark hole in the room. The Prince had faced his enemy. He looked him in the eye and failed. What's more he lost everything dear to him. The entire group awoke on the ground injured and the Prince landed on a column having just grabbed Farah from her fall. She resisted out of his arms with an angry look on her face and jumped to the ground. She said, "You were there. The Dagger was in your hands. Why did you hesitate?" He stared at the girl with whatever light shone through the caverns and then stared to the ground. She turned away from him in utter disgust. Farrah continued, "You think you're more cleverer than everyone else. But you're just like the rest of them. Those soldiers. All they can do is fight. Why did I trust you?" She turned around and then knelt down and picked his chin up with her soft gentle hand. She spoke softly saying, "Why didn't you trust me?" The group stood up and held hands since the room was dark. Farah accidently got her foot pricked and the Prince said "Oops Sorry." Farah said, "Hold my hand. Don't let go." There was utter silence for a little while. The girl then said, "I didn't mean what I said." The Prince then replied, "No. You're right. All that's happened is my doing. Opening the hourglass, cursing our world, and even hesitating to put the dagger in the right spot at the right time was all my fault. I brought this on us. Especially on friends that wanted to help us too. Yet I could only think of honour and glory and nothing else." Then Sora said, "Prince." Farrah replied, "You are brave and good. If this is to be our final resting place, I'm glad that I'm with you." Sora felt a tear on his right cheek go down and pictured Kairi and him there talking and hugging each other. He shortly got snapped out of his day dream when Tidus said, "Don't bet your chickens on that. Look what I've dug up." The group then saw an opening big enough for everyone to get through and then the Prince asked, "Why should I bother. I treated you all like dirt this whole time." Sora then said, "What did I say about beating yourself up? It only makes you feel worse. Now come on." Sora then smiled and grabbed the Prince's hand as well as Farrah did and left the room to the outside. The nearby stairs lead to the top of the Tower of Dawn and their the hour glass was. They crashed through the window, but it was so high up that the ground was at least thirty feet below them. Farrah accidently slipped and took hold of the dagger which the Prince then took hold of at the blade's end. He then said as the group gasped and yelled Farrah, "Whatever you do don't let go!!" The dagger was getting pulled by Farrah's weight and the Prince's hands started to bleed from the blade cutting them. Farrah then let go of the dagger and the Prince yelled "Farrah" as they saw her plummet to the ground below.

They traveled to the bottom only to find that Farah laid dead. The Prince said, "No!! sob This can't be happening!!" The group couldn't say anything and pretty soon they saw more and more sand creatures surround the area. Tidus then said, "Hey Prince. We got company." Sora, Riku and Mickey took out their keyblades as well Donald and Goofy got their staff and shield out and Yuffie and Tidus got their handmade swords that Leon crafted. The Prince brought himself to his feet and wiped the tears from his eyes. He then said, "Here is where it ends!!" The group rushed in and finished every creature off as best as they could. Eventually though, Sora and the others couldn't quite budge after taking on more than a thousand of them. Sora then said, "There's too many." Yet the Prince was still going. He had nothing more to lose. His anger and sorrow were so intense it was fueling his energy and his blood pressure to fight off the creatures. As the last few creatures got sucked away, he then turned his attention to Farah. He weeped as he saw the girl lay there still and motionless. He then heard a voice say, "The girl is unimportant." Sora then said, "Says you!!" as he stood up with the keyblade in hand. Goofy then said, "Now's your chance Prince!! Put the dagger into the hourglass." The Vizier said, "Don't listen to them. Give me the dagger. Together we'll become the most powerful beings to ever walk the Earth!!" The Prince then said, "I'd rather choose death, than to fight by your side!!" He leaped onto the hourglass and put the dagger into the hourglass as the Vizier yelled in defiance.

The group was transported back in time and found themselves back at the oasis where a camp was and there were the Prince's soldier comrades. They had no rings and weren't cursed by the sands of time. They were indeed normal again. The Prince then told the group to follow him to Farrah's palace. When they did find themselves there, the princess was surprised, but listened to what they had to say. When the Prine had finally finished his story, The Vizier was there all prepared to attack. Next to him was a man in a hooded suit. Sora then said, "You're one of Victor's henchmen aren't you? Fess up." Ohsj then said, "That doesn't concern you boy!! My business is here with the Vizier and just for interfering like that, I'm going to teach you a lesson." Sora drew out the keyblade and said, "Bring it!!" Both the Prince and Sora were enclosed inside a barrier left to fight the two wizards alone. Sora then transformed into his armoured form with the sword of light in his left hand and the keyblade in his right hand. They both fought with everything they could, but Ohsj was too powerful. His spells were so powerful that they rendered the Prince's sword useless and Sora's transformation disappeared. Ohsj then said, "Such weaklings don't deserve the power of Sacred Protection!!" Sora then felt Kairi inside him and yelled as loud as he could. The spell disappeared and his transformation came back. He then morphed with the Prince to become Ankylo and what's more his elbow pads and knees pads and other odd armoured spots were blue instead of white this time. Ankylo then said with the Prince's voice and Sora's voice in unison, "You've messed up this world for the last time." He yelled Final Strike and the Vizier and Ohsj were blown away. When the smoke cleared and they went outside, the barrier was gone and Ohsj was weak and barely standing. "This isn't over!! You will suffer!! Make no mistake of that, you will suffer!!" With that he disappeared into a dark portal as the Vizier's body turned to dust and blew away in the wind. The group turned around to see Farah get captured by Victor. "Sorry about that. Yet business is business." As he disappeared, Sora and the Prince separated and just missed trying to catch Victor.

Mickey then stared into the sky with discontent. Tidus then asked, "What's the matter your majesty? We just beat the Vizier. Shouldn't we be celebrating now?" Mickey then said, "I wish it were that simple, but it's not. You see that." The group noticed that the people were being controlled by rings once more. "Because we went back in time, nothing really happened and the rings are just starting to appear. Looks like we're making another trip with you, Prince. The only way they'll disappear is if we head to the Island of Time and take out the source of them all." Riku then asked, "The Island of Time?" The Prince then said, "Of course. I too saw the rings appear from there. I didn't get touched because I had the dagger in my possession." Donald then picked up the Staff of Insanity which looked liked Jafar's staff except it was black with a golden rim. "Oh well at least we have this." The group nodded and then left to the Harbors of Babylon as the Prince had said to get a boat.

Note: The next chapters are all about the WW and T2T games made by Ubisoft obviously. So I'll try and make them as best as I can to their true essence as Ubisoft made them. This idea also came to me just because Disney is considering to make a movie based on the game. Whether they stick to the story is beyond my knowledge, but I do hope that they do since this franchise kept me going through some hard points in my life and have taught me a lot about depression and all that other issues with emo. people.


	22. Chapter 21: The Island of Time

The Island of Time

Sora and the others stopped at a nearby merchant's shop to rest their feet and their tired bodies from walking in "The Death Canyon". The group had just managed to get to the Harbors of Babylon with just enough water, when they suddenly felt an eerie presence. It was a sign of evil being afoot. They didn't make anything of it at first and then the group assembled a crew and went on their way. They of course had to wait a few days because Tidus tried playing 'macho man' and didn't want to drink any water which left him unconscious for a while. When they did eventually leave for the Island of Time, a storm was beginning to brew a few miles down south off the shores of Babylon.

That all didn't matter because out in the distance, Ohsj was in a boat of his own spying on Sora and the others like they were lab rats. On a voice radio that Ohsj carried with him, a voice leaked out. It was Kered's voice asking "Is everything in order down there?" Ohsj said, "I understand perfectly. I won't make the same mistake twice Kered. I do in fact guarantee victory in this world. The fools are headed to the Island of Time just as the master expected they would do." Kered then replied, "Excellent. Good work so far Ohsj. If all goes well, the master promises a fine reward and a planet of your own as well as one for me to govern. Make sure that the empress leaves the island alive." The voice disappeared as Ohsj said, "I read you loud and clear. Over and Out Kered."

The group was soon on their way, but was delayed a few days in reaching the Island of Time because of some fog out on the open seas had been around as well as the storm getting rougher. The Prince as well as the rest of the group looked around seeing the crew all stressed out and starting to panic because their food supply was very low and because parts of the boat were getting apart. The Prince then yelled through the harsh winds, "This storm shows us no mercy!! We shall respond in kind. Hoist the sail!!" He then brought a nearby crew member to him and said, "Bring us closer to the wind!!" and tapped his shoulder showing his assertiveness that they would get through this storm. Then the Prince saw a black ship piercing the fog and then it disappeared. Sora saw him doing this and asked, "What are you looking at?" The Prince then said, "It's nothing. I thought I saw another ship in the distance." As he said this a flaming arrow in sky caught Riku's attention as it hit the ship. Riku then said, "We're under attack!!" Pretty soon more flaming arrows hit the ship and soon started on fire.

Across the open sea a black ship was laying siege on the unsuspecting crew and soon Sora and the group got out their weapons/keyblades and then charged. Since the Prince touched the hourglass with the Dagger, he didn't have the Dagger he could only fight with the sword he had from his last adventure. The only thing that he had on him that was valuable was the golden medallion that Farah dropped when getting kidnapped by Victor.

The group fought twenty undead looking soldiers that soon appeared on the boat tried killing everyone in their path. Before the group knew it, part of the bow broke and they were on the ship's galleys where even more undead looking soldiers were except they all had the dark rings on them. They were even more trouble and more powerful than ever before. Eventually as the group travelled through the ship towards the stern, two giant harpoons pierced the ship and brought more water into it. Donald then said, "Oh no. This is terrible!!" Riku responded, "You got that right. If we don't find a way out of here, we're gonna drown." The Prince noticed a rope attached to the bottom of the ship and said, "That's it!!" Then Mickey asked, "What is?" The Prince continued, "Everyone grab onto the rope here. And whatever you do, don't let go!!" They nodded and grabbed the rope as the Prince sliced it at the bottom and grabbed the bottom of the rope taking the whole group onto the other ship attacking them as they crash landed on their mast. They jumped from the mast onto stern where a woman in black revealing clothing was. She looked very youthful, most likely in her twenties and she looked like an aggressive fighter with her dark swords. She had very dark hair and her eyes were so brown and dark each of her pupils made a blackboard look like a flashlight.

The woman slashed a guy away and said, "What pathetic weaklings. I could kill a crab stronger than these fools." Sora then said, "You better be careful what you wish for." The woman looked and frowned as she saw the whole group of Disney, Anime, and game characters together staring her down. Tidus then said, "Because you might just get it, you big dumb Amazon!!" The group slowly stared at Tidus as he shrugged his shoulders. The woman said, "You'll never reach our shores alive!!" The Prince then said, "For your sake…" then ran in saying, "You'd better hope I don't!!"

A barrier had soon enclosed the group off, except for Sora, Mickey, Riku and the Prince with the woman in black clothing. The group ran in and put every once of energy that they could in fighting the woman. Sora tried using his sword of light and his golden armoured suit to fight, but it just didn't work at all. The mysterious woman was quick on her feet and her swords were imbued with a black aura that made them twice as deadly. The Prince unfortunately the only one who could get past her swords and even then it didn't look like they could beat her. Even the most powerful attacks by a combine force of Sora and The Prince and Mickey and Riku couldn't do anything. Shadee was even quicker than Sejanus was in the Gladiator Highlands. As they stood their ground, the woman in black raised one of her swords up and as Sora ran up to attack, The Prince saw this and pushed Sora out of the way while receiving the full impact of the blade on his neck. Sora and the others gasped as Sora said, "No Prince!!" The ship broke up into a million pieces and the others noticed that the woman was sliced into a million pieces as well that were so bloody and gross, the very sight of it looked like pork chops and baby back ribs covered in ketchup. They noticed a dash of light in the air and a hooded figure on the mast. Sora said, "Victor!!" as the boy snapped his fingers and Sora soon felt drowsy as he heard Victor's last words before passing out. Victor said, "Shadee, you useless pile of skank. I told you not to kill those fools and yet you tried to do it anyway. You're as useless as the very womb that gave you life. Good riddance!!"

The group awoke on a cold dark beach that was covered in fog, and unfortunately the remains of their ship as well as the black ship that Shadee was on. They found themselves on an island that was dark as night. There was some grass, but it was on some tiny rocks that used to be part of a big greenhouse garden. The trees were alive, but there was so much cloud cover it was a wonder that palm trees could survive in this barren wasteland. The island was covered in so much ruin, the Palace Fortress that the others gaze upon was almost like a canyon or a mountain on its own. It was the Island of Time, the most ruthless place on the entire face of "The King's Desert."That's not what worried Sora though. He gazed upon the Prince who was bleeding down to his neck in blood from the gash he got from Shadee's final strike. The boy held his hand close and asked, "Why? Why did you do that? You almost had yourself killed if Victor didn't show up." The Prince spat out a tiny wad of blood and stared at the radiant teen in awe. "You know Sora. I envy you a lot." Sora and the others gasped a tiny bit and then Sora asked, "Why is that?" The Prince laughed slightly and said, "Hehehe… You still don't get it do you. You're after a kind pigeon then too aren't you, my lucky boy?" Sora blushed a little thinking about Kairi and the Prince touched his right shoulder. He said, "It's okay. I miss Farah. She was taken by that boy. In the white suit. She was the only one who, besides my father that is, that really did care for me. She was the only one who trusted me, even when she didn't need to. That's something you can't just find in conquering lands. What's the point of spoils if you don't have anyone to share it with?" The group nodded and the Prince soon helped himself to his feet, constantly being asked by Sora and Donald and Goofy if he was alright.

The Prince then said, "Victor isn't evil. I'm sure of it." Riku then asked, "How can you be so sure though?" He then responded, "Why else would he kill Shadee when she was about to finish us off? Besides, I've met him before. He helped me out against a terrifying monster known as the Dahaka. It was a creature of unspeakable proportions. It was a creature created by fate when I put the dagger in the hourglass long ago." The group gasped. Mickey then said, "How did you reverse the effects then? Especially when this is the first time we've been to this island." The Prince then said, "Victor's somehow got control over the sands of time and reversed the previous effects of it over again. I noticed it when I first saw the Vizier before you all arrived. I felt déjà vu or like I had seen him before when I clearly didn't. Then the Dagger changed all that when I got my memory. Oh why am I talking right now? We should be out getting the Mask of Horror." The group nodded and soon left on their way. They came upon many sights of the island, such as the 'Gardens of the Empress' or the 'Palace Ball'. Then the unthinkable happened. All of a sudden the island's dark colour changed into a golden texture. The ruins turned into the marvel that was the Island of Time and the Palace Fortress turned into its former beauty and glory.

Then Yuffie spotted something peculiar. She said, "Hey you guys, come check this out." Riku then asked, "What is it?" Yuffie said, "Take a look see for yourself." It was a dark tunnel in the Palace Ball. The Prince figured he would go in for himself and check it out, but a barrier soon closed him off and the group found themselves face to face with a huge group of undead warriors with rings around their heads and a giant black coloured griffin with a man in a black hooded suit riding on it as well. The hooded figure then said, "What a pity. This was getting to be too much fun." Riku then asked, "Just who are you anyway?" The figure then said, "How rude of me? The name is Ohsj. It need not be repeated. Why don't I just cut to the chase. I am a created subject of Victor. Each page that he turned into a man is named with an anagram of some of the friends that Victor did have for a short time growing up. My name is an anagram of Josh, while Oshuja is an anagram for Joshua." Mickey then asked, "Why would you tell us that? That's top information." Ohsj then said while pulling down his hood, "The master predicted that you guys would eventually figure it all out." The group gazed upon Ohsj with his scruffy beard and his hair cut short to make him look young. Yet his nose was slightly crooked and he had a scar in the shape a moon crescent on his left cheek. Ohsj then continued, "So he's just speeding up the process. In fact while you're all here playing games with me, he's been taking over twice as many worlds without even moving a muscle. Mark my words, you won't live to see the light of day. Go my heartless attack." Ohsj then disappeared along with his griffin into a dark portal. The group was surrounded by an endless amount of heartless and soon a long fight became underway. Sora was too weak to go into his armoured form and could only use his Master Form to finish off as much heartless as he could. This fight however was much different than other fights because when one heartless was killed two more appeared. Victor had perfected Ansem's previous work into creating a huge majority of the black creatures that eventually swept the entire 'Palace Ball'.

The group finally beat the controlled victims, and the barrier lifted just in time for the Prince to come out with the Mask of Horror in his hands. It was black and looked spooky all over. It reeked of death and evil all over it. Yet the mask was theirs. Yet out of the blue they saw a woman in red clothing get attacked by a giant beast that was covered in a dark behemoth body. The Dahaka was a giant beyond all measures. He was at least ten feet tall. He didn't have a face, but blue sinister foggy looking eyes and he had horns that shaped the top of his head to look like an orc. The beast grabbed the girl and threw her across the room, but luckily the Prince caught her just in time. Riku then said, "So that's the Dahaka?" The Prince said, "Yes it is. Every last bit of that corpse proves it's him." Riku then replied, "I thought he'd be much bigger."

The group then turned their attention at the Dahaka himself, but another portal yet closed in around Sora, The Prince and Mickey this time around. The group then took out their keyblades and sword and then rushed into battle giving every once of agility they could to make the attacks quick and painless. They kept coming after the mighty giant as best as they could, but the menacing beast had a proving technique on his side. Dark tentacles appeared which ever direction he smashed the ground in and the worst part is they wouldn't stop until they would grab the prey that they were after. The Prince then saw something stuck in a stone just behind the monster. He made a quick dash, while Sora transformed into the golden armour and brought out his sword of light once more. The Dahaka was too powerful though. He kept swiping at Sora, Riku and Mickey like flies and the Dahaka soon caught them in his powerful tentacle grasp. Yet the beast got stabbed and yelled in a huge amount of pain. It was the Prince and he had a new sword. It had the power of water on its side hence the name the 'Water Sword'.

Sora then morphed with the Prince again becoming Ankylo and what's more the Water Sword became bigger and gave Ankylo a special ability. Ankylo then said,"Such power. I never knew this sword could do this Sora." "Neither did I Prince. Care to give our special ability a shot?" "I like the way you think my friend." Ankylo then attacked the Dahaka with an attack called 'Hydro Whirl'. The Dahaka was soon surrounded by four whirlpools of water and when they closed in on him, the beast disappeared as dust in the wind like the Vizier did before. The girl was impressed, but started to run away when the Prince got closer and she then said, "Stay back I'm warning you!!" The Prince then said, "Okay. Listen I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to get some answers. Have you seen any rings in this area." The Empress of Time as she used to call herself or Kaileena said that she saw some rings originate from a giant black spire in Babylon. It was there that a man in a black hooded suit (Ohsj as they soon found out) said that the sands predicted that she would die at the hands of the Prince and she sent her trusted warrior Shadee to prevent them from reaching the shores of the island. The Prince reassured himself as did everyone else as being on her side and she soon came around. They then told Kaileena their true purpose and about the heartless and Victor along with his thirteen black hooded agents. Donald then said, "There's only one more of those trinkets to find." The Prince then said, "Yeah. It's the The Snake Chained Whip of Mutiny." Kaileena then asked, "Did you say the Snake Chained Whip of Mutiny?" The Prince nodded. Kaileena then continued, "I actually saw it in Babylon. It was being carried off by these creatures you call 'heartless'. They were putting it in the Tower of Babylon for safekeeping. They didn't put me under control of the rings because if I was controlled the sands of time would disappear and the sand creatures would become mortal beings." The group nodded and then Sora said, "Off to Babylon!!" and everyone else repeated "To Babylon!!" as they left the room and the entire area turned back into its black state.

Meanwhile, Ohsj was getting lectured by Victor via communication's radio about his recent defeat. "Look at it this master. They have the Empress of Time with them. That has to count for something doesn't it?" Victor then said, "Yes it does. That was your mission since you got to the island. No more excuses. Don't fight the heroes. Just stick to trying to separate everyone and then capture her. She could be very useful to me." Ohsj then said, "I thought you needed only ten special women to do your project." Victor then said, "Yes, but I need a lead female and a lead male in the group to activate it. Here's how it's going to work." Ohsj then listened closely to Victor's mystifying secrets.

Note: The scenery changing mood is from the island changing from past to present and vice versa. (Warrior Within did that all the time especially when the Dahaka actually chases you everytime through the game. I didn't have enough time to do it though.) Any way, I'm going on vacation and won't be back till the 27th so we'll see what happens. Expect another chapter no later than that day. Reviews are absolutely encouraged. Deal is if you give me one, I give you one in return.


	23. Chapter 22: The Two Thrones

The Two Thrones

Months went by as the group, going to Babylon with Kaileena the Empress of Time, sailed through hot burning sun and terrible violent storms that did everything, except sink their ship. The Prince kept the mast secure occasionally, while Sora and the others were planning what they'd do when they returned to Babylon. Hours went by and the group solemnly agreed that no matter what, the first thing they'd do is find the Snaked Chained Whip of Mutiny and then go after Victor and any other villains he got under his control. The question though was if Victor already knew about these 'trinkets' and were just trying to go easy on the group. Later that night, everyone went to sleep except The Prince and Sora. The Prince then stared up at the sky and then asked Sora, "Hey Sora, do you believe in someone called God?" Sora scratched his neck and then said, "I really can't say. I've had some close calls here fighting Maleficent and Xehanort I haven't really thought about it."

It was quiet for a few minutes and then Sora said, "I do believe in someone who is all powerful though. When I was a little kid, my parents were always worried about me and when I was lost and then found, I always saw my parents praying to someone high above thanking 'him' for finding me. How about you Prince?" The Prince was quiet for a little bit and then Sora asked again, "Do you believe in God, Prince?" He replied, "I do believe. Simply because Victor taught me about him." Sora looked and the Prince continued, "He always believed that God was more close to us than we thought he was. He always believed that some of the times that he avoided death were because God was always looking out for him in his weaker youth. Which is why I won't attack him even if he does threaten Farah or Babylon." Sora didn't know why, but he couldn't ask that very same question seeing the cheerful face the Prince had on him.

The next morning, the group awoke to find themselves in a flaming city. They saw dead bodies near the harbour and all around the city was smoke and odd looking soldiers with bird masks on. Sora then said, "I've got a bad feeling about this." The Prince yelled, "Watch out!!" and then grabbed Sora as quick as he could. The group ducked as hundreds of flaming arrows struck the tiny ship they were on and the escaped unnoticed into the very depths of Babylon itself. Tidus then asked, "What happened? I thought that we already took care of this. The Sands of Time were never made right. We have the Empress of Time so they don't exist." The group gasped, except The Prince, Riku and Mickey. Mickey then said, "That's exactly it. When we took the Empress with us, The Sands of Time were null and void in the Present. Except our past ventures in Azad never took place without the sands. So that means…" The Prince continued where Mickey left off, "The Vizier is still alive. He's got Kaileena too I bet." Sora asked, "What makes you sure of that?" He pointed to two bird masked soldiers carrying Kaileena unconscious as Sora replied, "Oh." The group followed the guards around the city, fighting any heartless Persian warriors that were in the area or simple citizens that were captured of course. The kept on going until they reached a narrow market place that was heavily guarded. Yuffie then said, "That's just great. There's no way we'll get past them at this rate." Goofy then said, "Maybe not on the ground, but up here now that's a different story." Goofy then pointed to the rooftops and he of course got a noogie from the Prince saying that he did good thinking on his feet.

The group climbed every edge and every Persian building in the vicinity as the sky became darker and darker. Then Riku asked, "Is it just me or is this entire city starting to look different? It's just that I definitely don't remember these roof tops being so easily accessible. I especially don't remember there being chariots in this place either." The group stared from the hot cement roof tops they were on and saw three chariots with two horses on each ride. The group then hijacked all three of them and made their way to the Tower of Babylon. "So why are we going to this place anyway?" Sora asked. The Prince responded, "All the leaders of the city of Babylon were always at the top of that tower. I hope that perhaps Kaileena will be up there too." The group then spotted four chariots: one behind them, in front of them, and to their left and right.

However before they could get there, the group saw some commotion coming from the balcony of the Palace nearby and headed towards there being as quiet as mice. When they finally entered the room to the balcony and opened the door, they saw the Vizier much taller than he was as a mere old man and four other people next to him. One was really big and fat and held a club in his hand, one was smaller and wore purple clothing which made this one the only woman of the group and the two others were dressed in armour wielding an axe and the other a sword. Behind the Vizier was Kaileena tied up to two woodedn poles stretching two and half metres high. The old coot then laughed and said, "Welcome home dear Prince. I see you made it with no scratches. Come home at last. Too late I'm afraid though." The Prince watched in horror as the Vizier took his blade to Kaileena's neck preparing for her death in a matter of seconds.

Yet something in a black aura killed the big fat man The Vizier said, "Klompa?" as the giant felled and turned to dust. He watched as the woman was slain along with the twin brothers Axe and Sword as he called them get killed as well. They all heard a sinister laugh soon enough and Sora instantly recognized the dark figure that looked like Victor from his encounter with him at the Disney Castle.

Mickey then said, "Darkness. I should have known you'd be here." The dark being laughed and said, "Oh dear King Mickey, you never cease to amaze me. Your power only reminds me of the great power that could have been mine if Victor had just done as I said." Riku then asked, "What would you want with Victor's power anyway? You took out the Vizier's henchmen with no effort." The figure then punched a wall and left a huge dent the size of a cat in it. The dark figure said, "It's simple. I was born as a mere evil thought inside Victor's head. I comprised of all of Victor's anger, hatred, and all of his evil that was inside him as a child. I am indeed Victor's sins. The only thing I feel is anger and hatred. When Victor banished me, he poured all of his unnecessary anger out of him and into me. I want his power so that I can create an empire of my own, where anger rules. A sinister apocalypse like none the universe has ever known. When I am finished humans and other creatures will no longer exist. Anger and hate is the future, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!!" The being laughed and went on his way disappearing into a dark light.

The group then saw a man in a black hooded suit kill the Vizier and Kaileena thus opening the sands of time upon the entire world and from it a new figure had appeared. He looked just like the Prince except he was black like Darkness and he had yellow eyes like him. Except he had yellow markings along his body making him one of the first beings that Darkness was talking about.

The being laughed and said, "So Prince how does it feel to know that your precious love is dead? I bet it hurts you so dearly doesn't it?" The Prince said, "I know you. Victor and I discovered you years ago. You helped me out only to try and take my throne when my father died. You're nothing, but a disgrace!!" The mysterious figure then said, "Well am I basically you or your friends could call me the "Dark Prince". Either way why don't we settle this like men? Come face me now, Prince and I promise that you will be spared so long as I do get your father's throne." The Prince said, "Deal." and the Dark Prince went into his mind as he suddenly passed out and fell to the floor.

The black hooded figure then took out his weapon which was an Arabian spell book from the fight from before. Except this time the group was alone and the Prince was out cold. Riku then said, "This guy is mine." Sora then said, "But Riku…" Mickey then put his hand on Sora's right shoulder and said, "It's his fight now Sora. There's nothing more you can do." Ohsj then said, "Foolish boys don't deserve life if the only thing they can do is get into fights they should know are an inevitable defeat." Riku then said, "Well I'm not like other guys." Then Riku took out his keyblade and prepared himself for battle. Ohsj then said, "Alright then. Regardless though, it's still your grave, not mine." A barrier appeared as soon as he said this and Riku then made some quick dashes to his left then right and tried slashing Ohsj. However, the skilful sorcerer read a spell from his book and made Riku stand still. He read some more, which made Riku feel electricity getting pumped into his veins at a rate of 5000 volts per second. When the poor boy felt his heart get excruciating pain Ohsj just asked, "Have you had enough? There's more where that came from." Riku then said, "You're such a fool. You underestimate your opponent at your risk." Ohsj said, "Silence!!" and then read another spell which made Riku get continuously raised up and then down to the ground fifty to sixty times.

As Riku got weaker and weaker, his love for his friends got even stronger and then at random he changed into his black armour and his sword of darkness returned as well. Ohsj said, "What? How can this be? You shouldn't have that kind of power. No matter your powers will disappear as well." After Ohsj snapped his fingers twice, Riku then got a confident grin on his face. Ohsj then said, "This is impossible. How can a mere human have this much power?" Riku then said, "I simply use my heart in a different way than Sora or Mickey so I'm powerful being just who I am." Ohsj then used his spell book to destroy Riku, but to no avail. Riku took a quick dash to his left, sliced Ohsj's protective shield and then sliced his book in half. Ohsj then said, "No matter, my magic isn't limited to a book." He kept summoning ghosts to come and attack Riku from all directions, but he just destroyed them all in one strike of his sword. Ohsj then summoned a giant cockroach onto the balcony and it started attacking the entire palace destroying everything in it's path, even Ohsj had to summon another protective shield just to protect himself.

Riku on the other hand yelled out Darkness Purge and then the cockroach was disintegrated, he then did some quick manoeuvring and used his agility to bypass Ohsj's spells and his shield to slice him from behind. Afterwards, Ohsj fell to his knees and then dropped his hood to reveal his face once more. He then said, "Go ahead and laugh. The joke is on you. The sands have been released. The Dagger is no longer in existence. There's nothing you can do." He then died and after turning to dust left behind a page of Anastasia's journal. It was section # 5. Then Mickey said, "I wouldn't say that necessarily." He pulled the Dagger in the flesh and Sora asked, "But how?" Mickey then said, "While you guys weren't looking I took out knife that I took from Merlin's House. Please don't ask. I then painted it blue and did the old switcheroo. I figured that the knife would come in handy." The others soon saw the Prince wake up saying Farah and then he took the Dagger and plunged it straight in Kaileena's dead heart. With it she had awoken and the Sands of Time were brought back into her and with that she took the Dagger from the Prince thanking him for taking her off the Island of Time.

The Prince then said, "Thank you Sora. All of you were a big help to me. Thanks to you guys, my world is safe once again. I can't sense the rings as much as Mickey can't either." Mickey nodded in agreement that the rings were gone and Victor had lost control of the King's Desert. "Either way, I don't know if we'll ever see each other again, but Sora I want you to have this." The Prince handed Sora a necklace. "It was my father's when he was a boy. He gave it to me as a good luck charm. I'm giving it to you as a token of my friendship to you." Sora then said, "I don't know what to say Prince. You're too kind. Thanks so much." The Prince then said, "Oh and one more thing." He then handed them the Snake Chained Whip of Mutiny. Sora then asked, "But how did you…" The Prince then said, "The Dark Prince underestimated my strength. After that I took his whip off him and the rest is history. I simply defeated him after I saw Farah in my dream calling me to leave and then I heard wailing cries of the Dark Prince as I left him behind for good." Sora nodded and then put the whip on his back to carry home. The group then left without a moment's peace back to Radiant Garden.

Leon and Merlin then approached them and said, "Good work. Thanks to you guys Victor's got a lot on his mind. He's already lost four of his men. They left behind sections 4,5,9, and 12." Merlin then took the recent page that Sora handed him and went inside. Leon then said, "Looks like we're gonna have a busy day still. Now if you could give Anastasia the artefacts we can get rolling." They then handed Anastasia the Mask of Horror, The Snake Chained Whip of Mutiny that the Prince gave Sora after defeating the Dark Prince, and the Staff of Insanity to the redhead and when she finished the gates to Terraneus, Saryu, and Ailiana were soon open. The symbols for the gates were a flower for Terraneus, a water droplet for Saryu, and a cloud for Ailiana. The group headed into the gateway to Terraneus, while Leon and Anastasia went inside to take rest from doing so much research.


	24. Chapter 23: Terraneus

Terraneus

Sora and the others found themselves in a dense jungle covered in exotic cherry blossom flowers, roses, lilies, lilacs, anemones, tulips, and other beautiful foliage that cloaked the land in a bountiful paradise. The trees were so exotic and lush, it would be like taking a little trip through the Hawaiian Islands and camping outside there. The jungle was overlooked by a giant mountain to the north along with a wide-spread waterfall stretching a hundred feet in length and over fifteen miles in width. What was odd though was the waterfalls flowed backwards going to the mountains and yet there was another waterfall much smaller than the other one to the west was flowing forwards toward the jungle itself. In between the two majestic waterfalls was a gigantic rainbow that stretched halfway up the mountain making it a natural wonder for this little planet.

As Sora and the others kept on walking, there was a strong wind blowing and they suddenly felt cold and goose bumps appeared on their arms and legs. Sora then asked, "Is it just me or is it getting colder all of a sudden?" Riku started to laugh a little. Sora started to frown and then asked, "What's so funny?" Riku rolled his eyes and then said, "Oh nothing." Donald then said while giggling, "I hope your clothes aren't torn up or anything." Sora then asked, "My clothes? What are you talking…" Then as Sora looked down to see his threads he screamed and turned red like a ripe apple. His black garments had been replaced by a tiny loincloth. (No I'm not perverted. This is part of the world. Like in Atlantica he was in a dolphin suit.) The group laughed so hard they started to get tears in their eyes and their stomachs started to churn. Riku then said, "You should have seen your face. It's absolutely priceless!!" Sora then giggled and said, "Yeah you're one to talk. Nice new look Tarzan!!" Riku looked down to see he too was wearing nothing, but a loin cloth. In fact everyone looked down to see that they had nothing but loin cloths. Yuffie, being an exception had a long loin cloth around her chest.

Tidus then asked, "Why? Why is this happening to us?" Goofy then said, "Maybe it's the world we're in. I know for a fact that when we were in the Pride Land, Sora turned into a lion cub, Donald was an albatross, and I was a turtle. It all depends on the rules that worlds have." Mickey looked around the area and noticed something spring up fast from a tree behind Sora to the next one two feet away. He looked closely and didn't see anything after that. Riku then asked as they headed for the jungle valley below, "What's the hold up your majesty? Everyone's going now." Mickey then said, "Go ahead Riku. I'll catch up." Riku then left while Mickey stayed behind to ponder about the trees. 'Odd. I could have sworn I saw something move from one of those trees.' He then ran off to the valley to join up with Riku and the others. In that very same spot a man in a black hooded suit stared at the group and got a message on his communicator. It was Kered saying with his British accent, "Laxe, is everything under control there?" Laxe then said with his Portuguese accent, "Yes. I guarantee that unlike Ohsj I won't fail you. Those fools are headed to the valley, while I'm headed to the castle unwatched." Kered then said, "Good you'd better have everything under control. The master has little patience or tolerance for failure. He doesn't give second chances either. So make this one count." Laxe then said, "Yes Sir. You have my word. By sunset, the princess will be ours." The hooded man then disappeared into a dark portal.

Sora as well as the rest of the group grew tired and started to camp out with whatever form of shelter they could stir up. Tidus then heard some laughter through out the jungle. He asked, "Sora, was that you?" Sora shook his head. Tidus then said, "I got a bad feeling about this place." The group soon started to hear more laughter. Sora then gulped and said, "Okay now. Whoever you are you'd better come out. The joke's over. No pun intended either." Soon enough the group saw a few girls and boys appear out of the lush jungle bushes carrying caught fish on their backs. The boys were wearing nothing, but loin cloths as well as the girls were wearing what Yuffie was wearing too: nothing but a long loin cloth for their chests and their torsos. The group was embarrassed and didn't know how to respond to these people. They looked about Sora's age and what's more they looked so happy, not having a care in the world. They had an upbeat, cheerful attitude that made them seem weird, but friendly too.

Riku being the first to wave his hand at them asked, "Who are you people?" One boy, who was blonde and had some freckles on his face and a baby face with baby blue eyes, closed his eyes and put a smile on his face said, "My name is Wryn. That girl there with the rose in her hair is Teresa, that's Yunis, Enrique, Roxanne, Portia, Shadow, Yolei and that guy in the black loin cloth is Armocks. He's a really great guy once you get to know him." They noticed the guy in the red loin cloth leaning on a rock with his eyes closed and his face turned into a frown. The group then looked away in pure embarrassment not catching any of their names and then talking to each other about them. Riku then said, "They seem friendly enough." Yuffie then said, "That's true I guess, but how do we know we know they're not working for Victor?" Mickey then said, "It's pure and simple he doesn't." Sora asked, "How do you know that?" Mickey then said, "First, we haven't seen a ring around them or anything else in this place. Second, Merlin gave me computer device that can detect any planet that Victor has taken over as of right now, in the past and in the future. He gave it to me just before we left for Cherry Blossom Fields. Sometimes I wonder if that guy ever goes on vacation once in a while though."

The group then put on their best smiles and introduced themselves to the teens. They then went with the group of teens to a village nearby. Everything there was nothing but flowers. Their homes were in the trees and every giant rose or flower was a house, their market squares were all flower buildings hanging from the trees high above the ground, and what's more even their transportation was made from flowers, from airplanes to cars and from trucks to motor boats. Riku then said, "I guess you guys like your flowers a lot huh?" Wryn then said, "Oh yes. Techincally all people on this planet came from flowers." The group gasped and then Wryn showed them a rose that started to open with a man in a brown suit and a woman in a blue dress beside it. The rose opened to reveal a young boy in white protective cloth covering him as the man and woman walked away with him sighing and looking at the nice sunny day down near the waterfalls. Tidus fainted as he saw this and Yuffie was trying everything she could to get him to come to.

Riku then said, "No fricken way. That rose just created a baby. How is that possible?" Wryn smiled and said, "It's not really that complicated. You see Terraneus is the planet of earth and the soil is so rich and so bountiful here everything comes from the flowers. Even tree seeds are made from a flower that opens up its petals. My mother saw me come from a flower. I wish that she didn't have to go away." Goofy then asked, "What happened to her Wryn? If I may be so bold to ask. Wryn's big smile dropped to a slight one and he said, "A terrible storm hit our village twelve years ago. It was so strong that about half of the entire harbour was in ruin and many houses and businesses were all but destroyed. sob Unfortunately my mom and I were near the giant water fall 'Ceridian Falls'. I accidentally fell in and my mom swam in the rapids to save me. We grabbed onto a tree branch nearby and held on as long as we could. My mom noticed the branch break and then pushed me onto the cliffs and I saw the branch snap in a split second. It took her down into the foggy banks. I never did see her again after that." Wryn then started to cry as he fell to his knees and covered his face. The group looked at him and then slightly frowned too seeing him in pain and Sora then touched his left shoulder. "It's okay. We're here for you no matter what." Wryn sniffed and then hugged Sora so tight it felt like a chest of drawers had just toppled over him. Wryn said with tears in his eyes, "Thank you Sora. You're a pal. I knew by looking at you guys you were friendly faces." Sora smiled as he held the blonde and soon enough a group of heartless appeared a long with a man in a hooded suit.

Laxe said, "My oh my. What do we have here?" The group frowned and took out their shield, mage staff, swords, and keyblades rearing for battle. "How touching? You all are trying to protect this radiant child. It's a shame I have to take you prince." The group asked out loud, "Prince?" as Laxe said, "Go heartless. Bring me the boy. Kill anyone who gets in your way." Laxe disappeared into a portal and the group fought each heartless that came by. Unfortunately a new brand of heartless had appeared. They could take on the forms of people and their weapons as well. Sora and the others got so battered it seemed like the end for them. Sora collapsed and said, "This isn't fair at all. They're copying our powers and using them for their own advantage." One heartless looking like Wryn saw Sora on the ground injured and dashed towards him. Before Sora was attacked though, he was sliced in half and destroyed. It was Wryn in a yellow suit. He had a yellow sword in hand and his clothes resembled that of a tuxedo, but in yellow cloth. Wryn then said looking at Sora, "Those guys really need to work on their attacks."

Later, back in Wryn's Tulip house, the group had some chicken and fried rice to eat as well some orange juice, with a tiny hint of wasabi to drink. Sora noticed a blonde girl walking down the stairs waving and saying hi to Wryn trying to bring down her dishes, but then took one look at Sora and dropped them as they broke into a million pieces. Sora stared at the girl and started to blush a tiny bit, with the group noticing this making some cracks about this and laughing as well. The girl smiled and then licked her lips with a curious satisfaction. Tidus went up the stairs and then said, "Hey guys. No guys. Look up here. I'm gonna jump. I betcha I can fly. I betcha I'll fly to the moon and land on the water in less than five seconds. Watch." Tidus then jumped only to land head first on the flower's petals out cold. Even when Yuffie took him to the bathroom, he left a huge dent in the floor. Yuffie said, "I'm terribly sorry about this Wryn. Tidus isn't used to mixed drinks. That's why I can't even give him Cooler's to drink." Wryn got a little embarrassed and smiled saying, "It's okay. My buddy Jerid has the same problem too. Just give him some water and some Kool-Aid. It'll drag the alcohol out of his system."

Yet that wasn't the only action going on in that room. The girl put her dishes in the sink and then sat down so close to Sora they were only inches away. Sora then said, "Hey…what's up?" The girl then said, "Do you have a girlfriend?" Sora got shocked and started to step back a little bit while the girl was constantly trying to get close to him. She then said, "Oh God, you're so sexy!! Your butt is so nice and those lips. I just want to kiss them all night." Sora then collapsed and his face was so red it was the colour of fire. Wryn then came to see all the commotion and then laughed a little while bringing Sora to his feet. The blonde boy said, "You'll have to excuse my sister. She acts a little weird around guys. She's spent five years of her life being a princess and is just getting the hang of talking to guys." Sora sighed and said, "So I see." The girl then said, "Oh how rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Princess Hera, ruler of the earth planet Terraneus. I'm sorry if I embarrassed you." Sora then waved his hands in the air and said, "Oh no. It's my fault. I didn't realize that I was still wearing this loin cloth."

Princess Hera got everyone together and then explained that a mysterious man in a black hooded suit was trying to catch her and she had left the castle up to north to try and escape him and had been hiding with her brother ever since. Wryn's father was a Prince while his mother was a peasant. Peasants on Terraneus can become kings or queens, but they can never live in the castle. Wryn had his own house simply because he had a career in the fishing industry. Riku then said, "Well if that's the case we can't just stay here forever. They'll catch on and when they figure out where you are we're toast." Tidus then asked, "What would they want with a princess anyway?" Mickey then said, "I don't know, but we have to do whatever we can to protect Hera alright?" The group nodded and then the petal door exploded and out from it was some flames and a man in a black hooded suit appeared.

The Portuguese accented man said, "So we meet again Hera. This time you have no where to run." Heartless surrounded the entire group and blocked off all exits in the vicinity. "Now are you going to come with me quietly or do I have to get ugly?" The blonde girl frowned and then threw a pot at him. "Leave me alone creep! I wouldn't go anywhere with you even if you were the last man on Terraneus." The hooded figure spit out blood and then said, "A word of advice: No one harms Laxe and gets away with it!!" The Heartless then ran forward to attack, but then a huge flame appeared around the group in front of Laxe and his troops. It was Armocks. His big Viking like body was so huge and covered in red hair he seemed to look like an Irish man.

Armocks said, "Listen Wryn. I know I come off as a tough man or a big shot. However I only do this because I was your father's bodyguard. When you were born, I promised him I would take care of you in any way I could." Wryn said, "Armocks." Then he said, "There's no time to chit chat. Now go!! Go!!" Rest of the group left except Wryn. Wryn said, "I won't leave without you!! You're my best friend." Armocks then said, "I'll be fine laddie. I've handled worse from the crocodiles near the watering hole. You have to go now!!" Sora then took Wryn's left hand and they left through a white coloured portal. They appeared in a giant castle with green drapes and armour everywhere. The main room they were in was so big and had so much candle light it looked like the Hogwarts Main Hall. The entire castle room was in ruin from sword slashins to overturned tables and chairs. Hera then said, "I remember this place. This is the castle I live in and rule Terraneus from. Laxe must have destroyed the entire castle looking for me." "How right you are my dear." The group turned around to see that it was Laxe all alone with a black feathered fan in his right hand. Sora then said, "You won't get a hand on her Laxe!!" Laxe laughed and said, "Who's going to stop me? You. You're not even close to a match for me." Sora then transformed into his armoured suit and changed into Ankylo with Wryn. Unfortunately they couldn't even scratch Laxe as he just blew him away effortlessly. The group gasped as they saw this and then Riku said as Sora and Wryn returned to normal, "That's it. It's one thing to try and trap us, but to hurt innocent people is unforgivable!!" Armocks appeared from another white coloured portal just as Riku transformed into his armour of darkness and took out his sword of darkness to fight Laxe. Laxe kept blowing black coloured electric lightning bolts at Riku while he was trying to strike Laxe down with an attack called 'Darkness Strike'. Yet Riku's attack didn't even scratch him and Laxe blew him away with his weapon's lightning bolts. Laxe laughed and said, "How pathetic. You can't even last five minutes with me. Just pathetic." Armocks then grabbed Riku's hand and morphed with him to become Rainox. His armour was black and his elbow, shoulder, and knee and wrist padding was red. Laxe then said, "Oh big whoop. New armour doesn't mean you're better." Laxe hit Rainox with everything he had. He used an attack called 'Lightning Strike', but nothing seemed to work. Rainox said with a unison of Riku and Armocks' voices, "You're the one who's pathetic Laxe. You rely on hurting innocent people just to be successful. Yet you're nothing, but a coward." Rainox used the sword of darkness and hit Laxe with an attack called 'Darkness Wave' which blew Laxe away into a million pieces. Rainox then reverted back into Riku and Armocks as before.

After Armocks and Riku were bandaged up, another man in a black hooded suit grabbed Hera and took a quick look at Sora. Sora said, "Hey give her back!!" The man said with a British accent, "Try and stop me, you naïve child." As the hooded man said this he disappeared into a dark portal. Sora said to Wryn, "Sorry I let your sister get captured Wryn." "Don't worry about Sora. It's not your fault. The only person to blame is that guy in the hooded suit." The group stared at the night sky outside Castle Terraneus as the people called it looking at the bright stars and the moon that overlooked the dark abyss.

Sora and the others returned from Terraneus having saved another planet, but were disappointed in every move they made. Leon then said, "There was nothing you guys could do. Those hooded men are monsters and strong ones at that. You would have been destroyed if you did anything funny." Sora then said, "At what cost Leon. I still feel like I should have done something. Thanks to my careless Hera's been captured." Leon then said, "The only thing you can do is move on and try to help out the other Princesses as best as you can." Sora reluctantly nodded and headed into the gate to Saryu. Leon headed inside to find a stack of paperwork with his name written on a sticky note for him to take care of.

Return


	25. Chapter 24: Princess Lucia

Princess Lucia

The group found themselves on a planet completely covered in water globally. Luckily they were on a thin stretch of islands themselves and were completely out of harm's way. The planet sky looked as if it didn't have a single cloud anywhere. It was clear as day. What else had troubled the group was oddly enough there were mirages on the island too. Sora and the others kept imagining that there was a good restaurant, hotel, or a soda machine where they could get something to drink or rest, but they were always getting the joke on themselves when they figured out that they had been had. Sora then said accidently eating a leaf thinking it was a slice of pizza at Papa John's, "I swear if I see one more mirage I'm going to go nuts!!" Riku laughed a little when he saw Sora doing this and said, "Cheer up. Look at this way, at least there's no heartless anywhere." Mickey then looked at the sky and back at the group. He said, "Yes. It does seem like Victor hasn't even gotten to this world yet. I wonder if he's just pulling our legs here." The group didn't ponder it too much and headed to the eastern part of the island they were on, while deep in some of palm jungles of that same island a black hooded figure watched and with a snap of his fingers disappeared into a black portal.

They then saw a page on the ground. It was section # 11. Jiminy Cricket quickly brought the page back to Radiant Garden and returned to the group as fast as he could. They then saw two more pages: sections # 9 and 4 were also in the area as well. Mickey then said, "Now that I know is impossible. How in the world did all three of these pages get here?" "I'll tell you how.", said a man with a German accent. The group took out their weapons. "It's because you killed my brethren you foolish children!! Now I shall bring Nai and Lained from the dead." The hooded figure lifted his hands up and soon enough both of the pages were risen up from the ground as well. Section # 9 turned into a man with blue and yellow eyes while section # 4 turned into that very same Ansem the Wise look alike that Sora and Riku had seen before.

The German accented figure looked at both of them and said, "This is your final chance to redeem yourselves. Don't waste it." The figure disappeared into another dark portal leaving behind Nai and Lained to fight Sora and his group. Nai then said with his Russian accent, "You children don't know when to quit do you?" Sora, and Riku then transformed into their armoured forms and then held both Nai and Lained off with their keyblades and their swords. Riku then said, "Your majesty, you might want to take everone and get out of here. We'll hold them off." Lained laughed as he heard this and said, "Are you sure about that?" Lained took out his canon and Nai took out his giant axe and starting wiping the floor with Riku and Sora. Even when Sora and Riku starting attacking the other guy on either end nothing happened. Nai then said, "Forget them Lained. They're too weak anyway. They don't stand a ghost of a chance with us." Lained refused to listen and just kept wiping the floor with them. Nai said again while watching Sora and Riku fall like ants, "Why aren't you listening to me? Just leave them." Lained then said, "Why should I listen to the likes of you, ya two ton wallaby?" Nai then said, "How dare you. Do you know who you're talking to?" Lained then said, "I don't need to listen to the likes of you. The master as well as you make me sick!!" As he said this he slashed at Riku and slit his neck. Sora gasped as he saw this and yelled his name as loud as he could. Lained then said, "Oh what now? Are you going to cry just because your friend is incapacitated?" Mickey then stepped in and pretty soon his armour had returned to him as well. Nai then slashed Lained with his axe and said, "Mark my words Lained your death is long overdue. This isn't over you fools!! I shall return. And when I do, you will all rue the day you messed with the likes of me!!" With that he disappeared into a dark portal leaving Lained alone to fight the mouse.

Lained then said, "Oh this will be a piece of cake mouse." A barrier appeared behind Mickey and in front of Sora tending to Riku's wounds. Mickey said, "You know I've met some weird characters in my life before you. I've dealt with the Disney Villains millions of times. I've even faced one of Victor's enemies in combat, which is one I can't stress enough. You on the other hand are without a doubt a coward." Lained laughed and said, "Really? Look around. I'm right here with my canon loaded twenty four seven and everything. The only thing I see is a small pathetic form of a king. Yet you're calling me a coward." Mickey then ran up and sliced a piece of his suit off around the hood. Lained then said, "Now you'll pay for that you wretch."

Mickey ran around in circles as Lained kept firing shots right at him. He had so much gunpowder and "bullet balls" as he called them he could make two hundred ball pits with each one of them. Mickey didn't stop running. Even when he was hit a few times Mickey still kept running. Lained kept on laughing at Mickey and finally said, "You must be tired by now. Who do you think you are Joshua? There's no way some stupid bible story will make me crumble you ingrate." Mickey then said, "Oh yeah? The joke's on you now. Thanks to your ignorance your gunpowder has run dry and you have no more "bullet balls"." Lained reached into his suit and sure enough he was out of his essentials. Mickey then attacked Lained with his sword ten times and said, "This one is for slicing Riku's neck." With one mighty blow Lained fell to ground and soon enough his canon dissolved into dust in the wind. Lained coughed up some blood and while laughing he said, "You really think this changes anything? Victor isn't even through with you punks yet. Not by a long shot. He will kill you all. Wait and see. You're only preventing the inevita…" He then disappeared into dust leaving behind section # 4 as it had been done before with Kazuya instead. Jiminy put it in his pocket and the group soon left.

Mickey then knelt down to look at Riku. He said, "Are you going to be alright?" Riku nodded and said, "Let's just go. The sooner we find that Princess the better off we'll be." The group stumbled upon a huge oasis where people had a city erected in the centre exactly. There they spent time shopping, sleeping and finally getting a good meal without being attacked. Three days went by and Riku's injuries finally healed. The group kept asking people if they knew where the Princess of Saryu was. No one gave an answer until finally one man who was elderly finally fussed up and said that Princess Lucia locked herself up in her room because her dad didn't want her spending time with a guy by the name of Vladimir Goorack. The group asked where they could these love birds and they eventually fled off to Vladimir's mansion. Oddly enough, it was the spookiest place on the entire planet and had dead trees and a large graveyard to boot. Sora knocked on the door and without even a stutter a huge zombie opened the door as the entire group screamed at his presence. "Can I help you?", the zombie butler said. Sora asked, "Is Vladimir Goorack at home by chance?" The zombie nodded and then let the entire group in. The Zombie said, "Guests are here master." "Alright Mannie, you can go now. You've earned your break." Mannie left and from a large stairway stepped down a young brunette boy dressed in an expensive red robe saying, "So do you guys want my head on a pike or just from a guillotine?" Sora and the others were grossed out and confused and Sora said, "Do you know of someone called Princess Lucia?" Vladimir put his finger on Sora's mouth and said, "Don't you dare say her name. Do you hear me? I'm not allowed to even think about her." Yuffie then screamed and the group asked what she was looking at. She pointed to a mirror with only Sora's reflection. Vladimir didn't show any reflection at all.

Sora turned white and said, "You're a vam-vampire!!" Vladimir slowly walked upstairs and said, "Go ahead. Mock me, burn me, and my crush my dreams just like that meddlesome father of Lucia's. Because of him, I can't even talk to her. All because I'm just a blistering mess." Sora then said, "Who says you are?" Vladimir then yelled, "I do. That's who you stupid idiot. Every day I have to come home to an empty home with no parents, no family because they were all killed by the people of the city here. Lucia was the only one who understood. If only I could stroke her red hair and stare into her luscious blue eyes. I would just melt." Riku then said, "You really care for her huh?" The young vampire nodded. Sora then said, "Well that's settled then. We're going to help you out Vlad." The vampire then asked, "Why would you help me? I haven't helped you out or done anything for you." Sora said, "Tsk-tsk-tsk. You have a lot to learn. Being a friend doesn't involve doing stuff for others. Just as long as you show that you care about them really matters."

Vlad then said, "I don't know how I could possibly thank you. I guess the only thing left to do is leave for Lucia's Castle. It's down by docks of the city of Saryu." The group hurried off to the castle to find that a white hooded figure opened up a portal and just ran in with a woman with red hair and blue eyes dressed in a dark blue princess gown. Vlad said, "That boy will pay for his kidnapping of my love." Vlad then got captured by a man in a black hooded suit. That man said with an Italian accent, "Keep those ignorant fools busy. If anything, a diversion would be enough." He then went through a portal and from the shadows came Nai all ready and buffed out to fight. Nai then said, "I choose the mouse to fight. You by far are the most powerful of the group. If anything, I should have the upper hand when I get rid of you." Mickey drew out his keyblade and said, "That's assuming you know how to fight with that big weapon of yours."

Nai took out his axe and Mickey then transformed into his armour form and took out his Sword of Balance to provide an edge for him. Yet instead, as Mickey kept using his agility to fend off Nai the only thing that the Sword of Balance was doing was just protecting him as best as it could. Mickey kept fighting all he could, but with one fatal trip Mickey fell into the path of the Axe. His chest was bashed and he fell to ground. Mickey then got up and said, "You think you're so smart, but I've only been distracting you this whole time. I've sliced your axe into a million pieces." At random Nai saw his axe fall to pieces and turn to dust and as the group smiled with determination Mickey said, "Now it ends!!" With one more slice Nai had disappeared and in his place was section # 9.

As they headed back to Radiant Garden, Victor was still spying on them and then he turned his attention to Ceir. Victor said, "You know I'm getting sick of all your excuses Ceir. Instead of giving me a full proof plan, you give me garbage. I don't even want to hear it. From now on you're only mission is to get the last princess from Ailiana and the prince of Ailiana as well as Sanshobi's Prince. Is that clear?" The hooded man nodded and then walked away into a dark portal. "It was all for the best boss.", said that same man with the German accent as he put Princess Lucia to sleep. "Attm, now isn't a good time to discuss anything right now. I've lost five men right now because of that ignorant Spaniard. I swear if I had any sense of pride I would just get rid of him right now. Yet I have pity for him. He did give me the locations of the castles and did distract those fools in the process. Thanks to him my project is almost complete too." Attm then said, "Regardless, you are still the one who is in charge my liege. There is no magic in the universe that can change that. Now I shall leave you my lord. If anything I'll send Ehalcim down to deal with those brats!!" Attm then disappeared into a portal leaving Victor in the main chamber of Castle Oblivion with his thoughts and his pride.


	26. Chapter 25: A Frightful Truth

A Frightful Truth

Victor sat on a cliff on the outskirts of Ailiana when he noticed Sora and his group arrive. He started to think in his head, 'Good Work. I knew you would make it this far. Heheh Ironic isn't it? You and I aren't so different in the fact that we strive to see justice done. We both seek to find peace and prosperity even when things are at their worst. We shall see how you hold up against me though in the final confrontation.' The white hooded boy then vanished without a trace.

As the group traveled about in Ailiana, they gazed upon its white beauty and vagrant fields. The area was cloudy in a sense, but from the fog that dominated the lowlands protruded vast mountain ranges and Greek looking forests in small pockets here and there. The fountains that the kingdom of Ailiana was best known for were a shining example of imagination because each bowel was bigger than the other going to the bottom and each of the four major fountains in the kingdom stretched twenty five feet into the sky. The animals were so peaceful and gentle the group could actually go and pet them without being charged at by other members of moose, deer or antelope. The group looked around and Donald said, "It could be just me, but I don't think there's any heartless here at all." Mickey said, "Anastasia did say that Ailiana was free from any evil or impurity after all. I guess that would include heartless as well." Sora then pulled out a map and Riku then asked, "Where'd you get that Sora? Is it a map of this place?" Sora nodded and said, "I felt Merlin put something in my pants pocket and then whispered to me saying it was of grave importance.

Flashback

The group sat down coming back from Saryu and listened carefully to what Merlin and Leon had to say. Leon said, "Now then before you guys think of going anywhere we have a few things we need to cover first. The first thing is that while you guys transformed we also noticed you could get even more powerful by morphing with another person to Ankylo or Rainox as you guys called yourselves. Yet this power isn't even supposed to be true or real. Technically all of this was a myth from the research that Anastasia had from her home planet."

Riku then said, "I don't see what the problem is though. Doesn't this mean that we have an edge to fight against Victor with?" Merlin cleared his throat and said, "No Riku it doesn't. What it really means is that you have a sacred power that could prove very useful to Victor should he ever figure it out. You see unfortunately he possesses the power of Light and like you, Sora and the King, he is a knight as well. However, Victor along with his brothers have proven to be an exception to this mythical transformation you all have discovered. They don't need another being with them to transform into the champion form of the Sacred Protection which you have stumbled upon. They could go to it as well as the ultimate level and the mega levels of this form at ease." The group gasped and Sora said, "There's an ultimate and a mega form too?" Leon nodded. He then said, "From what we've gathered in our research the people of Ailiana told stories about their own people the "chosen" who managed to go to the ultimate and Anastasia's father supposedly went to the Mega form, but there of course was no eye witness to prove this was actually happening."

Tidus then said, "Well then let's just go and get those three to their ultimate and mega levels." Merlin said, "Hold it. It's not that simple. The "chosen" from the fairy tales had to have some special objects. Luckily Anastasia made at least one last page to her journal so we could figure this all out. Unfortunately though, one of Victor's henchmen came and ripped it up into eight pieces and threw them into eight different gates on that floating island above us." The group gazed into the sky as they saw a huge floating island above them. "We made a transporter, but it needs an engine to function properly. Ailiana is best known for their technological advances as well. While you're there I would suggest getting one there as well." The group nodded and then left into the gate to Ailiana. Sora felt a hand on his butt and then turned a little red, but it was Merlin whispering, 'I'd keep this map with you at all times my boy. It is of grave importance.' Sora gulped in a huge whack of breath and left into the gate as fast as he could.

Present

The group moved through the open clouded fields and in front of them was a huge iron gate surrounded by a huge purple barrier. To the group's surprise the gates magically opened with no one to question why they were there or anything. It didn't matter at the time because the group went on their way into a huge town square. It was all white in colour and the architecture was a cross between British and German architecture. What's more even the people wore white clothing whether it be a mail man or a police officer they were all in white clothing. They all also had Halos and had angel wings on their backs. Some of them had from two simple wings to eight wings in total depending on status. (In the bible, some angels have a different amount of wings to indicate a certain position) Donald then said, "Could this place be anymore white? My eyes are hurting just looking around this huge city." Riku said, "Who cares if the people are so conformist to one thing? We have two things we need to do. One get an engine for the transporter and two get the Princess of Ailiana before Victor or his associates do. What's her name again?" Mickey then said, "Anastasia said her sister's name was Mira." Yuffie then said, "I'll get the engine. Be right back." With that Yuffie went and got the engine and then took it to Merlin. She then came back to notice the group planning their next bit of action. Mickey then took the map out of Sora's hands to see where the castle was. "According to map Merlin gave Sora, Castle Ailiana should be right at the top of Eternity Peaks." The group looked up from the town square to notice a big white castle at the top of a big grey, bear head looking mountain (This is a replica of the Disney Ride in California. Don't know what the ride is called.) surrounded by acres of green forest and exotic white flowers.

The group climbed and climbed the treacherous precipice as fast as they could. Each member of the group was getting scrapes and cuts all over their clothing and they only managed to get to the top of the mountain by cutting up the sleeves of their clothes just to reach the castle gates. Sora then went to edge of the moat cliffs that the castle was known for and noticed white clouds surrounding the moat. He also saw a mailbox with a red button on the top of it and pressed it. Soon enough the drawbridge was brought down. Then an old man in a black velvet suit with a bald head and a grey mustache walked onto the drawbridge with his hands behind his back saying, "Can I help you children?" Sora said in confusion, "Children?"Mickey then said, "Is Mira at home mister?" The old looking butler said, "My name is Cedric thank you. And yes she is. However she is writing in her diary and wishes not to be disturbed. Might I ask who you are?" Mickey then said, "I am King Mickey of the Disney Castle. I was one of the warriors who fought alongside the King of Ailiana. He won't mind me and a few friends coming in." Cedric then gasped and said, "You're the brave warrior who finished off thousands in one mere strike?" Mickey nodded. Cedric continued while bowing and shaking Mickey's right hand, "It truly is an honour you highness. Please do come in. I just made scones and crumpets (small pancake made in the UK)."

Mickey and the group soon went inside to get out of the sunny paradise and rest up and tend to their wounds. As Cedric took them across the huge castle, the group saw many paintings of aristocrat angels and even Anastasia's family in general. They also passed a giant stairway at the entrance of the castle. It stretched four hundred stairs and was fifteen feet wide. As the group continued through the castle, they passed by many knight statues, corridors and soon went inside a Dining Room to eat. The table was so long and the room so big it was the equivalent of two football fields. The group soon sat down and had their own private waiter and chef come to clean up their wounds and give them aprons. Sora then said, "Talk about being first class. You guys are doing all of this for us?" Cedric nodded and said, "On Ailiana, whenever we have official guests or aristocrats like "the King" as you call him, we provide the best service in the entire galaxy to them. It has been a sacred Tradition for five hundred thousand generations." Soon enough, the group was served an entire course meal ranging from Roasted Duck to Yorkshire Pudding for deserts. The group started to drool (metaphorically) and their eyes started to water.

Sora gulped and said, "All this food is for us?" Cedric nodded as well as the chefs and waiters did in kind. Then Sora said, "Don't mind if I do then." He then took his fork and knife and went as fast as he could collecting the food of his desire and munched and pigged out with whatever was in his sights. Tidus, Yuffie, and the rest of the group got an anime teardrop at the back of their heads and Riku said, "Man he sure can put it away that's for sure." Donald said, "I don't think a fork or knife is going to do that much. What he needs is a shovel." Goofy then said, "Or a bulldozer." The group laughed as well as Cedric did too while drinking tea from a golden china cup and holding the golden china plate it was accustomed with. He then said, "That is a compliment to our chefs. It means we have pleased you well."

After supper, Mickey then explained to Cedric about Victor and the Princesses of Terraneus, Saryu, Sanshobi, and Ailiana being in danger. Cedric then said, "I knew this was bound to happen. Even My master, King George II knew this would happen." Sora then asked, "What would happen?" Cedric then explained that many eons ago, way long before the Great War of Saryu and Sanshobi, one angel was created by "the Almighty one" as the angels of Ailiana called him to be the 'accuser' of all human beings on that boy's planet. He in fact was supposed to be putting all of them in the 'Fire Eternal' for their disobedience to him in years past. He was the highest rank of all angels as well in "the Almighty One's" created court council. However this angel was different from all angels. He was very handsome, wise, he had authority and was embraced with all kinds of riches and treasures unlike ever seen before. Indeed he was perfect in every way from head to toe. However it wasn't enough. He was a created being, but became jealous of "the Almighty One" and his great power and yearned to be his equal as a god. His name was Pyros.

He sought to rebel against "the Almighty One" and was banished upon doing so to the 'Fire Eternal' to rule in pain and agony for eons to come. When he let his pride and yearn for equality amongst "the Almighty One" his heart became black as coal and dark as night. His heart was the very first heart to be turned into darkness. He lost his halo and his white hue colour that every angel had and replaced it with a black sinister hue for his skin and his wings turned into dragon like wings and from his back sprouted a tail. He also took a third of all the angels of Ailiana with him into the 'Fire Eternal' with him. The group soon understood that that was how darkness was created and they soon found out that when Victor and his brothers were created, an arms race between "the Almighty One" and Pyros began trying to influence the boys from the death of their parents to the good and bad situations they were in.

Cedric then said, "In fact, one devil came here and fought against the very evils saying that he desired to be like us here. Free from eternal pain and suffering. He then vowed to protect all the Princesses of Terraneus, Ailiana, Saryu, and Sanshobi with his dear life. He left for Earth though, saying he had duties and one was to make a boy evil. He wasn't the only one though trying to get at him. When Victor was born, He was created with charm, looks, and true goodness similar to that of Pyros himself, but in due fact had a terrible evil put into him by Pyros. It was his imagination, although one that is common in all humans, his by far was one of the most dangerous. From it he imagined someone like him. From his anger and sin was created an evil that only had one mission: to control the boy and to take over Ailiana. Pyros wanted to lead "the Almighty One's" people away from his love and care by turning them against him and this would have surely been a success. Victor on the other hand said no and did not embrace this evil and like Pyros from Ailiana, was banished from his being forever."

The group couldn't move an inch and their eyes stared at Cedric with anticipation for his next few words. Cedric said, "Yet Victor is tied to his evil self, Darkness, in one crucial way though after all these years. They both still have the same heart. One cannot coexist without the other. Should Either Victor or Darkness fall, the other would disappear too." Sora then said, "Wow. Then that must be his reason for getting all of those women for his experiments. He must be trying to separate his heart from Darkness permanently." Mickey then said, "I wouldn't bet too much that that's the reason. Ansem did similar things with the workings of a heart to no avail." The group then asked Cedric if they could go see Mira. They were given permission seeing that King George and Queen Margaret were not in the Castle as of late.

While the others were heading up the long red clothed stairs, Mira was in her main bedroom chamber putting on makeup. Her room was all white like the rest of the castle and her bed was dressed in many white silk ribbons. As the white haired woman was putting on her lipstick she noticed a black being in her mirror and was about to scream when he said, "It's okay. I don't mean any harm. After all Mira, why would I want to harm such a delicate flower like you?" Mira then said, "Why are you here? I could easily call all of the armed forces here right now to get rid of you." The dark being laughed and said, "Oh come now. Surely you don't mean that don't you. In your heart you know that I only want to help you and your sister." Mira then said, "You leave Anastasia out of this. Because of you, mom died on earth and she cried. Because of you, many atrocities have been brought throughout the universe. Because of you…" The dark figure put his finger on her lips. "Because of me you have a future do you not." "Doesn't mean you do Kazuya!!" In a dark corner of the room was a white hooded boy with his transparent sword in hand pulling down his hood.

The dark being laughed and said, "You stupid fool. Do you not recognize your own equal?" Victor noticed the figure's yellow sinister eyes and said, "No… It can't be…" The doors flew open and soon Sora and the others arrived with their weapons in hand and Sora, Riku and Mickey in their transformed armoured suits. Sora then said, "You won't get away with this Victor. I don't have any idea why you're here Darkness, but you're going down too." Darkness cackled in an eerie sort of way and soon it became cloudy outside the castle. "You foolish boy! How can you expect to defeat that of which is pure anger, sorrow, murder, despair of some sort? For you see I have been present in your reality, Victor's reality, and all other heroes' realities as well. You didn't simply defeat Xehanort or Maleficent or Xemnas. Who you were really fighting was me. Pieces and Pieces of my essence are in every being with a heart. That pitiful sorceress Maleficent tried to control me even when I was clearly her better and I took over her along with many other worlds. I have been present in Riku as well when he turned to the darkness as well."

Riku gasped and asked, "How do you know that? Only Sora and a few other people know about that." Darkness shook his head and said, "It is simple. I was around long before Victor was even born. I was a piece of the great Pyros himself, sent to Earth to take over the boy and conquer all that was good and pure. Prior to that, I made Victor's own kind fight each other in war, conflict and commit other bit of sin that they could. I am sin incarnate. I am the greater evil that resides in Pyros and all that "the Almighty One" (God obviously) created. I know all the victims I have claimed into my realm. So I question you this: Why do fight others when you know that their ambitions are clearly not of their own, but of my doing?" Victor then pointed a finger at him and said, "You don't know anything about people you coward. You were the one who wanted to be human and take a true form in the first place. Yet to do that, you must accept the light as well. We simply fight beings like you so that you don't make others suffer. You Darkness have no right to question us of our values when you don't even have them to begin with." Sora thought to himself as he stared in confusion at Victor, 'What the heck is going on? Did I hear Victor talk about being good? Am I dreaming?'

Darkness then said, "Well then let's settle this like men and finish what we started all of those years ago shall we?" Victor then said, "I would gladly wipe the floor with you anytime." Victor then ran up and tackled Darkness and as he did, a dark portal appeared on the floor next to Mira's bedroom window taking them both into the darkness below.

From another dark portal a few moments later a man in a hooded suit appeared. He lowered his hood to reveal a short haired brunette, with an eye path on his left eye (having green coloured eyes), short trimmed mustache and long side burns. He took out a weapon that resembled a Zanbato and wielded it with ease in one hand. He was over seven feet tall and had an x-shaped scar in the centre of his forehead. From the dark portal came hundreds and hundreds of heartless into the castle. He then said with a light Italian accent, "Now my dear Mira, I shall cut to the chase. My name is Ehalcim and my only mission is to take you with me at once." Mira then said, "How about if I pass this once? I'm not in the mood for traveling." She did a back flip and grabbed a bow and a case filled with arrows and shot two straight for the brute. They got shot by a fast flying object and in the corridor was another hooded man this time he had a giant boomerang for a weapon. Tidus then asked, "How many guys are in this place anyway? Two thousand?" The hooded man with the giant boomerang pulled down his hood to reveal a red headed man with blue eyes and a nice smoothed nose. He then said with a gay-like American accent, "Actually it's more like five thousand heartless, Ehalcim here, and myself, but good guess anyway. Oh where are my manners, my name is Taylcon. I too am here to capture the princess so hold on to your socks." Sora then said, "If you want Mira, you're going to have a lot of bruises after this." Taylcon then said, "Bring it boy!!"

The group then began fighting all of the heartless as they could while Riku started fighting Ehalcim and Mickey began fighting Taylcon. Taylcon then began to change his form dramatically. He then turned into a pale green haired man with some purple paint crescents covering the top of his cheeks. He then said with a French accent, "Oh Sorry Monsieur. Yet I am a sneaky master of disguise. I can change my form whenever I wish." Mickey was then kicked by the master of disguise himself into outside the bedroom and towards the stairs. "Oh but where are my manners? I am Daynebr, master of disguise and of course weilder of the giant falcon boomerang. It gets it name from all the people it kills with precision." As Mickey got to his feet and fought the oversized boomerang, Mickey could hear the air around make a call just like an eagle in the sky would. As Mickey paced himself and kept coming right at Daynebr, he kept being pushed back yet again everytime. "Oh you silly little rodent. Don't you know who you're up against? I am one of the stronger member elites of the thirteen members of Victor's generals. You are no match for me!!"

Mickey was getting the pants whopped off of him at first, but he kept up his stamina and determination. He kept holding his own against the well experienced foe and then saw the boomerang head straight towards Cedric coming up the stairs. Mickey jumped in front of it and then took the full impact of it. Cedric then said, "Oh no!! Your majesty. Please speak to me!!" Mickey then said, "I did what I had to do. You were in danger. At least I protected you." Cedric then said, "Your majesty." Then they both heard a laugh above them and some swords clashing in the next room. Daynebr then said, "How precious. You have a good side to you as well mouse. Now you shall fall. And when I do kill you, I'll enjoy the taste of your blood on my crepes." Cedric then yelled, "You monster. You have nerve coming in to King George's castle intending to do harm. Yet to take a life for no reason is something I will not stand for. You my good sir, don't deserve life!!" Mickey and Cedric then morphed into a taller version of Mickey. He had a human body like that of a young man, but Mickey's head was still the same all and all. The armour was brown, but the knee, elbow, and shoulder pads were all grey though.

They had become Tiran. Daynebr then said, "No matter. I shall dispose of you like I did with all the other fools who got in my way." As he launched his boomerang at Tiran, the giant knight sliced it in half with his Sword of Balance with an attack he called 'Wind Slash'. Tiran then looked at Daynebr who started to get a look of fear on his face and said with a unison of Mickey and Cedric's voices, "You were a fool to challenge the light. Don't you know that evil never wins? No matter how powerful you are, no matter how smart you are, evil always will lose to the light of good should the balance be tipped in their favour."

Tiran then slashed Daynebr and he accepted death as quick as he accepted life and collapsed to ground turning into dust to reveal section # 2. Jiminy Cricket grabbed the page, while Tiran fought off the heartless and helped Riku who was all bruised up fighting against Ehalcim. The giant brute stared at Tiran who was the same size as him and said, "A very unique build you have developed mouse. I'll leave now with the princess. Don't be fooled though. We shall meet again very soon I guarantee." Ehalcim had Mira unconscious in his left arm and left into the portal with a mere thirty five heartless remaining with him.

As the group healed, Sora and Riku looked to the ground in sorrow. Cedric then asked while pouring them some apple juice, "What's the matter boys? You beat the heartless and saved the castle. You should be overjoyed by now." Sora then asked, "At what cost though Cedric? We let you all down. Mira was captured because we didn't hold Ehalcim off long enough." Cedric then shook his head and said, "Sora if I have learned anything from watching King George and his wife Queen Margaret in battle it's this. When they lost something precious they didn't fret over it. They thought of it as training exercises for the day that they would rescue their loved ones from harm." Riku then said, "So you're saying that we'll see Mira again?" Cedric then nodded and said, "I guarantee it. You boys are brave and good. Don't you ever lose sight of that. For it is a pure heart that guides us through dark times and evil." Sora then said, "Thank you Cedric. For everything. I promise without a doubt, that we will rescue Mira and everyone who was captured by Victor and his henchmen. I promise." The group then ran down the cliffs of Eternity Peaks and Cedric thought to himself, 'Such nobility. I wouldn't be too surprised if they actually did defeat Darkness at his own game once and for all. That one boy's heart alone has enough goodness to shower a city for hundreds of years. Good luck Sora!!' As he said this Cedric went inside the castle back to his formal duties as the caretaker of the estate.


	27. Chapter 26: A Fiery Battle

A Fiery Battle

The group had finally returned, but not to a familiar Radiant Garden. There were heartless everywhere. On the streets, near the shops, and everywhere around the group people were running scared. As soon as they got near Merlin's house, they got pulled into a dark alley to see that it was Cloud who had saved them. Sora said, "Cloud. What are you doing here? The last time we saw you, you disappeared along with Sepphiroth. (Hope I spelled his name right)"

Cloud then sliced a barrel in half inside the alley and walked away. Sora asked, "Hey, where are you going?" Cloud turned to face Sora and said, "Listen there isn't much time. I saw two hooded guys come and capture the group. There's been heartless and nobodies here as well attacking the joints around town and civilians. A word of advice, get those people to safety quickly." Sora then asked, "What about you?" Cloud then replied, "I have to go find Aerith. I saw a guy with a boomerang and a guy and another with a black feathered fan carrying her off somewhere to the old castle where Maleficent ruled from years ago." The group instantly thought of Laxe and Daynebr.

As they headed out to the old castle of Radiant Garden, they instantly attacked by a group of heartless and nobodies patrolling the area. There were hundreds of them circling the group and closing off all possible exits around the canyons. Tidus then said, "Well this is just great. Looks like we're gonna be late for the movie folks." Yuffie then said, "Very funny Tidus. It looks like we're really in a pickle this time." Riku then said, "Not if we transform we're not." Sora, Riku and Mickey then transformed into their armoured forms and started slashing at the large army of heartless and nobodies. Riku trying attacking one at the waist, but it did a back flip in the air and tried stabbing his face with his long arms. Riku was merely back shuffling having the nobody's knife like hands miss his tender face by a mere thread. Four times, five times, six times this had happened to Riku. He then said, "Oh screw this!! I should've done this a long time ago." He yelled 'Darkness Strike' and blew twenty nobodies away.

Meanwhile, above them a white hooded figure stared up from the top of the castle watching the battle go on with precise attention to every detail and every move that Sora and the group used on their enemies. A black hooded figure then appeared behind him and said in a Spanish accent, "Everything is going according to plan my lord. Soon enough those kids will be shish kabobs for the dogs back home no?" Victor punched the railing of the castle balcony and turned to face Ceir while pulling down his hood. Victor said, "I was attacked by Darkness you know. I have had two worlds I had control of slip away from my grasp. Six of my men are now dead and you dare to talk about everything going according to plan. You're even more clueless then I thought. Now you'd better listen and listen carefully. I want you to capture this guy for me." Victor showed Ceir a picture of Cloud in all his blonde fighting glory. Ceir asked, "What if he is persistent and doesn't cooperate?" Victor then sighed and said, "Isn't it obvious? Knock him out cold or something. I really don't time for this. Kered and Attm have just taken over four new worlds and I have to set up the rings and everything. Use your imagination. After all, I used mine to create you guys." Victor then disappeared into a blinding light and left Ceir in the castle alone.

As the group finished off the last heartless and the last nobody, they were already starting to get tired and exhausted from taking hits to the face, chest, shoulder and the shins. Donald then said, "I'm sure glad that's over with. I don't think I could handle another nobody or heartless for a while." "Then I guess your luck has just run short duck!!", exclaimed a man with a French accent. In front of the group was Daynebr with his 'falcon boomerang' as he called it. Beside him was Laxe and his black feathered fan. Riku then said to them, "So you came back for round two?" Laxe then said while being smug, "Oh please, we were just getting warmed up. To tell you the truth we weren't trying to fight you guys." Daynebr continued, "Honestly, did you really think we would go down that easily. We are part of the master's elite. We are his chosen and his strong iron fist. Kered may be his right hand man, but I am the harbinger of his wrath." Laxe then looked at Daynebr with an angry look on his face. Daynebr continued, "Oh I'm sorry. We are the harbingers of his wrath."

Sora then said, "Let me guess. You're going to fire blindly at us and hope that like bowling pins we'll just fall down and surrender." The group started to chuckle. Everyone was laughing that is except Riku and Mickey. Sora then asked, "How come you guys aren't laughing?" Mickey then said, "Sora it's time you realize that you can't underestimate your opponents. Like they say, an elephant never forgets." Riku then said, "For all we know they could be holding Aerith hostage. We have to get her to safety and find Merlin and Leon." Sora nodded and then they heard the hooded figures laugh again. Laxe then said, "To do that you'll have to go through us first!!" Laxe and Daynebr then morphed together to form Daylaxenebr. He was over fifteen feet tall and his boomerang had turned into a shield for his back, while his fan turned into a black sword thin as cardboard.

His hood covered his face, but they could clearly see that he had red eyes and everything. Oddly enough though, Donald morphed with Sora to become Ankylo with light blue padding, Goofy morphed with Riku to become Rainox with green padding, and Tidus morphed with Mickey to become Tiran with purple padding. (Obviously when I mean padding, I mean the shoulder pads, knee and the elbow pads as well). They then started cutting up the behemoth's legs, but he stomped once effortlessly and blew them away in the opposite corner. He raised his sword and brought it down towards Ankylo who flipped over to his right quickly just missing an inch of the sword's impact. Daylaxenebr then turned his sights towards Yuffie and then ran forward to attack. However he got shot in the back by Tiran who said (in unison of Tidus and Mickey), "Hey over here big boy!!" Daylaxenebr then said (with a unison voice of Laxe and Daynebr), "The mouse. You will be the first to taste my power!!" He then flung the sword from his left side to his right, while Tiran did a limbo dodge and then a twirl in mid air.

Ankylo and Rainox then started to regroup while Tiran engaged battle with Daylaxenebr. Ankylo said, "This is ridiculous. He's too strong for us. Even all three of us at once can't even scratch him." Rainox then said, "Remember though that Laxe and Daynebr were pretty tough customers and it took all of us morphing with one other person to beat him. My guess is that we might have to go to the ultimate level." Ankylo then said sarcastically, "Oh that's much better. I feel really good about our situation." Rainox said, "Trust me on this. Somehow there has to be a way to go to the ultimate level. We just have to think while fighting this freak."

Tiran was holding his ground for as long he could until he lost his footing and soon his Sword of Balance got flung out of his hands and to his far right near Yuffie. The giant flung his sword at Tiran inches away from his face as a sign of pure, in doubtable defeat. Daylaxenebr then said "Foolish mouse. Is that all you have to fight me with? I have never been so bored in my entire life." "Obviously you've never fought with me then amateur." In the blink of an eye something in a dark purple attacked Daylaxenebr and the giant fell to his knees. He then appeared in front of Ankylo and Rainox with his arms crossed and his face looking as serious as ever. It was Kazuya. Ankylo then said, "My aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Kazuya looked up at the giant and then back to Ankylo and Rainox and said, "Now isn't the time for pleasantries. What are you waiting for? Transform back into your separate selves and I'll tell you what to do next." They both nodded and reverted back into Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Riku. Kazuya then attacked Daylaxenebr with his purple laser breath which put up a netting shield around him. Kazuya then said, "That shield won't hold him for long. Now listen closely. There won't be time for a practice drill. It's now or never. Sora and Riku you guys have to think of the one thing that keeps you guys together and keep your mind focused on that. It'll help you get to the ultimate level." Sora then asked, "But how? None of what you just said makes any sense at all." Kazuya then said, "Who cares if doesn't make sense. Just do it. Otherwise if you don't Radiant Garden will just become an ashtray for jumbo back there to smoke cigarettes on."

Sora and Riku then thought of their friendship and dedication to each other and without a second longer began to glow. Sora glowed Gold and was raised up into the sky, while Riku began to glow black and got raised up into the sky. Daylaxenebr broke through Kazuya's shield and then attempted to attack Sora and Riku, but couldn't. Their bonding friendship acted as a barrier and then soon began to grow bigger and morph together. They became Ankyronox. He was a giant with a combination of golden and black armour all over his suit. He then said (unison of Sora and Riku), "Daylaxenebr, over the past few moments you as well as the rest of your associates have tried to banish the light from all of the worlds. You also tried to attack the Princesses of Terraneus, Saryu, Sanshobi and Ailiana. How can you justify yourself in this predicament?"

Daylaxenebr then said, "I don't need to explain myself to the likes of you!! It's my destiny along with my master, Victor, to conquer this universe and to put an end to the very ideals you so sought to protect. You don't deserve life. No living thing deserves it." Ankyronox then replied, "We shall see." A rainbow aura appeared and weakened Daylaxenebr and Tiran's power, Donald's power, Goofy's power, and Yuffie's power started to grow. They lent their power to Ankyronox and sliced Daylaxenebr in half using the power they received from their friends. He then reverted back into Sora and Riku exhausted and hungry.

Yet there wasn't any time for that though. They headed into the castle and climbed each impossible stairway they found themselves at. They passed the library and fought many heartless and nobodies to reach the top. They finally managed to get to the balcony area and saw a black hooded figure walk out from a dark corner with his hands crossed behind his back. He said in a Spanish accent, "I have to admit you all have caused me nothing, but grief since I put all my plans into action. You are all pests just like that blonde man with the giant sword was." Sora gasped and exclaimed, "What have you done with Cloud you monster?!?" "Ah so that is the trouble maker's name. Don't worry. Any second now he should be at Castle Oblivion. Pretty soon my master will have his experiment complete. All he needs now is two princes for his project."

Sora then ran up to attack the hooded figure, but he took out a twin bladed spear and blocked Sora's keyblade from doing anything harmful to him. Sora attacked the spear twenty times before getting repelled by the Spanish conquistador. He then said, "Foolish little niño. You have no idea how strong each of us is. I guarantee it will be your undoing. I'd love to stay and chat some more, but business is business. You understand." As the hooded figure walked towards the balcony, Sora then said sitting on his butt, "All I understand is you're a coward. You didn't even tell us your name." The Spanish accented man said, "How rude of me then. My name is Ceir. Remember that. For I shall be the one to beat you in combat." He turned away and walked into a dark portal near the balcony.

As the group finally reached Merlin's house, they saw the entire group there all bruised up and laughing in victory over Victor and his hooded entourage. Leon and Merlin were then told the whole story about their transformations and were shocked at what the result was. Merlin then said, "That is impossible. Mere human emotion activated the ultimate level just like that. I don't believe it." Leon then said, "I guess we don't have much of a choice but to believe it now. Well you guys you may as well go and find all the pieces to Anastasia's page for her journal. The transporter is all ready and fired up to go. All you have to is push the red button to go up. There will be green button up there to take you back down anytime you want as well." The group nodded and then got aboard the transporter and Sora pushed the button. The group was then instantly teleported to the floating island in the sky.

While up there, the group saw eight gates, but seven of them were blocked off by a barrier. The one that was open had the Eiffel Tower as a symbol for it and they went into it as fast as they did in any other gateway. Maleficent then appeared on the island, as well the Queen from Snow White's World, Hades, Ursula, the Chernabog, Cruella de Vil, and Jafar appeared circling the black witch. Maleficent then asked, "Do we know the plan then as of yet." Cruella de Vil then said, "Why it's simple as day itself. We take back the control of the heartless and then make that wretched boy in the white clothing pay for his arrogance." Hades then said, "I'd really want to get my hands on that brat with the keyblade as well. He's given me nothing but a monster headache ever since I met him." Maleficent then said, "First things first though. We take control of the heartless and battle Victor and his little host until he can't pose even the slightest bit of a threat. Then we can turn our sights towards Sora and his group." Jafar then said, "Pardon me if you will Maleficent, but I noticed that Victor has an enemy of his own besides the boy with the keyblade. He calls himself Darkness and resides in each one us as the true form of evil incarnate." Maleficent then smiled sinisterly and said, "Very interesting. Keep a close watch on him. He may be the very key to Sora's destruction yet. If memory serves I do remember trying to control him and his essence." They then disappeared just as fast as they appeared on that tiny floating piece of rock.


	28. Chapter 27: Trouble in Paris, Part 1

Trouble in Paris (Part 1)

The group found themselves in a big courtroom with many people sitting down and listening to an old man up at the court stage talk about a threat known as the Chinese Triads. Jiminy Cricket said that the people here called this world Prime City because of the gangs that are found here. Sora asked a woman with the flag of Somalia on her desk, "What's going on miss?" She then said, "First of all, no children are allowed in the court room. Secondly, that is the French ambassador and the Chairman of the World Criminal Court, Reynard. He is giving a speech now about the Triads. They have been known worldwide as the most dangerous terrorist group in the world. Now pay attention." The group then turned their attention to the old man giving his speech who then called up another man who looked Asian. He in all sense was Chinese because he was addressed as Ambassador Han. He said, "The Triad society is built on secrecy. Nobody knows who these men are, who controls them, who leads them. Nobody has known for five hundred years. But today, I stand before you with a secret of my own. Today I will disclose information that affects everyone in this room. After years of searching I believe I have finally located Shai Shen." One man objected to this and ironically was on the Chinese board of the world court himself. Another man from the UK board then asked the ambassador who was Shai Shen. Unfortunately his speech was cut short due to an explosion that occurred. Someone fired a bazooka shot right at the Ambassador.

The group saw another Asian looking man standing to the left of Han went to check for a pulse and where the shot was at. He was taller than Han, had a stern serious looking face his hair was combed nicely short, and he wore a black suit making him seem like a guy from Men in Black. The man then looked to the window and saw someone on the opposite building. He told some other people to keep a close eye on him and then ran off. Riku then said, "What are we waiting for? A cab? Let's go." They followed the man, narrowly dodging traffic, crossing the sidewalks, and heading down a city bridge until he went down a street lamp. The group then took in a deep breath and jumped to the ground and raced across the city street as fast as they could. They of course were honked at by impatient drivers, but didn't make much of it. They then saw the Asian man go under a metal door that just closed missing his head. They saw a door and busted that down using the keyblades and then before they knew it they saw the Asian cornering another Asian with long scraggly hair and a mustache and a light beard. He was also wearing a white shirt and dark jeans to match his punk like attitude.

They started talking in Japanese from what Riku heard. The Asian with the short hair pulled out his gun and held it pointed to the Asian with the mustache. Riku then told the others while hiding behind a giant green trash bin. Riku said, "Man that one guy with the mustache is pretty slick. He wants to get shot. Apparently his name is Kenji and the guy holding the gun is Inspector Lee." Sora then said, "You got all that by listening to them?" Riku then said, "What can I say? I took a Summer Japanese course. It's no big deal. My mom just wanted me to be cultured. No quiet and listen." They then heard a car vrooming and some people screaming. Sora looked behind him and said "Jump now!!" The group jumped as high as they could and a black convertible hit the trash bin and launched it straight at the two Asian men. The one with the mustache and light beard jumped up onto a nearby street ladder and looked at the other Asian on the trash bin and smiled as he jumped onto a nearby building and ran away.

A black man with very trimmed hair and a rough mustache going around his lips and underneath his chin walked out and said, "Damn Lee. What were you thinking? That guy could've killed you." He then looked at the two women in the convertible and said, "I'd like you to meet our dates for tonight. That's Marsha and that's Zola." Marsha was a very skinny woman while Zola was fat and pudgy looking. They both wore very tacky clothing though so neither of them was that attractive. He pointed to Zola and said, "That one's yours." Then Sora said as the group lay exhausted and bruised up, "Nice driving. Who taught you? A chimpanzee?" The black man then stared at the boy and his buddies and said, "Since when is Disney Land in the big city of L.A.? Either I'm dreaming or these guys are doing a parade or something." The group laughed a little and Mickey then said, "Oh no. You see I'm Mickey, that's Donald, Goofy, Riku, Sora, Tidus, Yuffie, and this little guy is Jiminy Cricket." The black man said, "Cool. I'm detective James Carter and that guy I just about ran over which I'm terribly sorry for is Inspector Lee, my brother and posse." Sora then told them their intentions about finding a piece of paper and told them about Victor and the rings he used to control worlds. Luckily, Carter and Lee said neither of them was spotted and that they did see a piece of paper with writing get blown away in the wind towards the hospital. They offered to personally drive them there as an apology for nearly running them over.

The group then got driven to a hospital and the girls drove off so quick they made a forest fire seem slow. Riku then said, "Not to happy customers aren't they?" Carter then said, "Ah you get used to it. Mushu doesn't come cheap here. You have to risk life and limb sometimes." Carter and Lee said they had to go upstairs for a while to take care of some things being policemen and all and the group sat down and waited for them. The group then found the paper in the hospital lobby underneath a guy's wheelchair and it only had the title on it: "Section Fourteen: Power Incarnate." Not too much help, but the group then saw a man in a black hood and took some old magazines to hide their faces and listen to the conversation. They heard the man's communicator said, "Is everything in order there, Obireb?" The hooded man then said with a Chinese accent, "Yes Attm. The only thing I need to do is head to China Town and gather up some weapons. When I do I will head to Paris and take over this pathetic city world once and for all!!" Attm replied, "Noble words for a good cause. Rest assured though, you aren't the only one to take up this torch. Let's hope you are the last." The communicator stopped with a tiny closing glitch and the hooded man disappeared into a dark portal. The group took down the magazines from their faces and then saw Carter and Lee staring at them like they were being watched and Carter asked, "So where can we take you gentlemen and woman of course." Yuffie perked up sensing his respect for the girl. Sora then said, "Chinatown."

The group then found themselves inside a Chinese dojo where Carter asked the teacher in black clothing to see the Soo Yung's locker room. After being told he had to have permission from the headmaster, he just went to the centre of the arena. Lee tried to tell him to stop but Carter said he had this covered. Lee then remarked at the teacher, "I don't know him." Carter then passed the centre of the arena where more than two dozen kids in orange clothing held spear like weapons at him. Carter said, "Now listen kids. Violence never solves anything. Let me just go to her locker room and I promise I'll be out of your hair in like two seconds. Okay?" he tried walking and then a boy who was no bigger than his waist kicked his left shin and Carter then got up making some pathetic Karate moves and said, "That's it. I'm about to beat the puberty out of you!!"

The teacher said something in Chinese and the kids backed down. Carter then opened a nearby door and then said, "Woah. Damn. I'm sorry man I thought this was the bathroom." As he started walking away, a giant kid in orange clothing walked under the door and grabbed Carter and Carter said, "We have a problem fellas. This kid's on steroids or something." He threw Carter across the room and Sora and the group drew out their weapons and keyblades and ran in to fight the giant. Each one of them was swatted at like flies and Carter just kept on distracting him by using random weapons like the nun chucks which just ended up hitting him in the face or a thin Chinese sword which the kid broke in two. Lee then took a long bamboo weapon and tried hitting the kid, but he just grabbed it as Carter did on one end and both of them were spun around as if they were on an amusement park ride with the kids just laughing out of mere pity for them. He dropped the bamboo pole and heard something snap from the weapon's shelves. The kid then got tripped up by a man in a hooded suit. Before anyone knew it all the weapons were stolen and the shelves were left clean and empty. Sora then saw the man at the door and he disappeared into the dark portal. They then saw a purple demon come and after nearly getting swatted at by the giant kid, restrained him with his demonic power and ran into the portal after the man in dark clothing. Carter then said, "Who the hell were those two just now?"

Sora then said, "The purple guy that was just here is on our side. The other that stole the weapons is with Victor." Carter then said, "Why do I get the feeling this Victor guy is more trouble than a moose on the interstate?" The group then saw an old man appear. He was very short, bald at the top of his head and he had a long white beard from his lips down to his waist. He also wore dark clothing as well, but much darker than the teacher's clothing. He said, "May I help you?" The Carter then walked up to him and said, "We'll be asking the questions old man. Who are you?" The old man said, "Yu." "No not me. You!!" "Yes I'm Yu." Carter then said, "Just answer the damn questions. Now who are you?" "I have told you." Carter said, "Are you deaf?" Yu then said, "No Yu is blind." Carter then said, "I'm not blind. You blind." "That is what I just said." Carter said, "You just said what." "I did not say what. I said Yu." Carter said, "That's what I'm asking you." Yu said, "And Yu just answering." Carter said, "Shut up. You!!" as he pointed to the teacher in dark clothing. The old man said, "Yes?" Carter said, "No not you, him. What's your name?" The teacher said, "Me?" "Yes you." The teacher said, "I am Mei." The old man then said, "He is Mei and I am Yu." Carter then said, "And I'm about to whoop your ass man!! Cuz I am sick of playing games. Yu, Mei, everybody's ass around here, him. I'm sick of this."

As he said this Lee pulled him away and started talking to the old man about the locker. Meanwhile Sora and the others struggled to make heads or tails of the conversation. They all had anime teardrops behind their heads. Sora asked, "What just happened here?" Riku said, "I think that that old guy is Yu. Y-U. That guy is Mei. M-E-I. Either that or I have just died from trying to listen to that long interrogation." The group then ran off noticing Carter and Lee heading off to their car and headed for the hospital again. They were then told that some men in black clothing were going after a girl named Soo Yung and her father, Ambassador Han. They headed up to Ambassador Han's room and took Soo Yung with them telling her of the danger approaching. Before they could do anything though, they heard gun shots across the hall. Five Asian men in black suits appeared armed with guns and started to open fire on them.

Sora, Riku, and Mickey then transformed into their armoured forms to try and attack them. Yet the people on this world were so strong that they would have be injured or killed by Lee and Carter apparently. Riku then said trying to whack a guy hard in the head, "Well that sucks. We could hit them until kingdom come and it wouldn't do any good." Mickey then said, "Well then let's protect Ambassador Han then. He's going to need all the help he can get." They headed off to Ambassador Han while Sora stayed to help out Carter. He said, "Good moves boy. You really know how to work that armour." Sora slashed at a guy's knee and he said, "Thanks. It helps being on so many adventures." Carter kept shooting at a guy near the door and then ran out of ammo. He said, "Lee throw me the gun." Lee tossed him a black gun, but it hit Ambassador Han's spare bed cart instead which was in the middle of the shooting arena. "Damn Lee." Carter then flipped the cart and crawled on his hands and knees to grab the gun. He then did a semi flip and tried shooting the two men shooting him, but they hid behind the door.

Meanwhile, Lee and Soo Yung were taking on three men at once. Soo Yung was being held by her arms, when Lee kicked the guy and flipped him to the ground then he grabbed another guy and Soo Yung kicked the guy at the chest taking him down. Carter then ran out of ammo again and said, "Oh Lee. I need some assistance!!" Lee saw the gun and then said, "Sora." Sora replied, "Way ahead of you!!" as he did a flip and grabbed the gun and threw it to Carter. Unfortunately there was no ammo. "Oh Sora. Ammo too would be nice about now!!" Soo Yung grabbed the ammo and tossed it to Carter just in time to shoot the two men down like mosquitoes being clapped by hands in mid air.

Lee then said, "We always got your back." Carter said, "Then why'd you all give me the empty gun then?" To which Lee replied, "I don't know." Carter then said, "You almost got me killed man." Lee gave him a strange look 'yeah sure I did.' Carter grabbed the guy and started interrogating him in English then in Chinese, but he responded in French. "What the hell is he saying?", Carter asked. Lee then said, "I think he's speaking French." "Well you talk to him." Lee said, "I don't know any French." He then slapped the Asian as he was speaking French and said, "Stop it man. You're humiliating yourself!!"

Yuffie then said, "I can speak French. I took a course at school a while back. I think I can make some things out of this." Carter then said, "Good. Because this guy won't crack unless it's French." As Yuffie communicated with the Asian he said something in a rough way with a bit of spitting at the end. Carter asked, "What did he say?" Yuffie then said, "Do I really have to say it?" Lee then said, "Yes. It's part of the investigation." Yuffie then said, "He says you're making a big mistake and that one day soon you'll beg for mercy. He also called Carter the 'n' word." Carter gasped and said, "Oh no he didn't. Hell no he did not just say that word. That does it!!" He grabbed the guy by his collar and asked, "Who is Shai Shen? If you don't tell us I'm cutting off your beads." Yuffie asked in embarrassment, "His beads?" "Yes Yuffie. His little hairy stinking beads. Hand me the gun Lee." Lee didn't give it to him at first and then Carter just took it from him.

Carter asked again, "Who is Shai Shen?" The Asian responded in French and Yuffie said, "Shoot me." Carter pulled the trigger, but no gunfire came out. Yet again no ammo. He said, "There are no bullets in here." Lee handed him the ammo and said, "Oh sorry." Carter said, "I'm trying to kill someone man. Damn!!" As he put the ammo in, he then threatened the Asian along with Yuffie translating all the way through. The French speaking Asian then said a location and a person's name to which Yuffie translated, "Fifty Franklin Roosevelt. Genvieve." Lee said his thanks as well as Carter said, "A pleasure working with you Yuffie." Yuffie then said, "Any time brother." She then give Carter a high five to which Tidus then said while falling to his knees, "I don't even know you anymore!!"

The group then picked up Soo Yung telling her of the great danger the Triads posed to her and her father and then headed off to Fifty Franklin Roosevelt which was actually a Parisian building. There Reynard met up with them and told them of the spies that were lurking around the city trying to end Han's life as well as his daughter's and then he offered them to come with him to his parlor in Paris. As Soo Yung and Reynard headed for his limo, it exploded into a million pieces. Tidus then asked, "Is this the part where we ask for refreshments?" Yuffie punched his shoulder giving him a 'no time for horsing around' look. The next thing the group knew they were on a flight to Paris to deal with the Triads and to figure out about Obireb and what Victor's next plan was here.

To be continued…

(Next Time: It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's…Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan riding a French flag off the Eiffel Tower.)


	29. Chapter 28: Trouble in Paris, Part 2

Trouble in Paris (Part 2)

The group, which included James Carter and Inspector Lee, had just got out of the airport in Paris after being checked for bombs, guns, and that shtick. Riku then asked, "Why did he need the whip the again?" Carter then said, "No idea. Just keep walking." The entire group struggled as they walked because their butts had been violated by a French police man inspecting for terrorists and did so for every international arrival in Paris. The group found a cab to get into but he simply said, "Get out. I don't drive his kind." He was pointing to Carter and Carter said, "My kind?" "Yes you. Americans are the most violent people on Earth. You are always starting wars always killing people. America is a joke. You lost in Vietnam, you lost in Iraq. Heck you can't even beat the Europeans at basketball. The dream team is dead." Carter then said as he grabbed his collar, "I will let that slide for now Frenchie. However, things are about to get even more violent if you don't start driving this car right now!!"

He drove off as fast as he could and they soon found themselves at a club, that the French Triads always hung out at. It was a really fancy club and had everything in it. There was red robes everywhere, European paintings on every shelf and the bar was split up into three main sections. One was for the games room which included cribbage, baccarats, black jack, poker, etc. One was the main lobby for drinking at the bar and it had hundreds of tables to sit down and get a bite to eat and watch TV as well. And finally one was for private rooms, bedrooms, and restrooms. (Try saying that ten times) The group went inside and started investigating. Carter went off one way to where all the women were at while Lee went off to the bar to ask some questions. Sora then said, "I wonder what we should do next. This place stinks like heck." Mickey then saw a man in a hooded suit put up a table and grabbed Tidus. "May I make a suggestion?", the hooded man said with a Chinese accent. "Give up!!" he then threw Tidus at the group and heartless appeared everywhere.

Oddly enough though, time was frozen. No one was moving or walking or talking. The only ones moving was Obireb, the heartless, Sora and the rest of his group. The Chinese accented man said, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Obireb. I have given my heartless friends the weapons I stole from that gym a while back in L.A. Now we have some unsettled business to take care of. I hereby challenge Sora and Riku to a duel to the death. The rest of you shall face my army of heartless in exchange. Now then let us go." Sora, Riku and Obireb disappeared leaving the group to face off against the rest of the heartless before them.

Sora, Riku and Obireb appeared on the top level of the Eiffel Tower and squared off against Obireb. Sora and Riku transformed into their armoured forms and then began to fight Obireb with everything they had. Sora hit him at the legs and Riku hit him at his head. They kept on slashing at his body seeing Obireb constantly back shuffling their sword attacks. It seemed as though he wasn't even trying to fight. Yet even as they did hit their target hard the suit began to cut, but there was a barrier blocking both of their attacks as he said, "Foolish Children. You don't even know who I am. Do you?" He pulled down his hood to reveal a man with black hair in a similar style to Demyx of Organization XIII. He also had green eyes, a soft nose, a light mustache and a tiny beard. He then continued, "I am Obireb, master of psycho kinesis. You don't stand a chance." They got repelled off as quick as they had laid a hand on him. Riku then said, "Should we?" Sora looked at his Sword of Light and said, "We have to." They held hands and thought of their friendship, but nothing happened. Sora then said, "What the…" Riku then replied, "Oh crap. That's not good." Obireb charged up and grabbed Riku by his neck and threw him to the ground and then used his psychic ability to grab Sora and hold him in mid-air. "Foolish yet again. You don't even know how powerful my abilities are. Yet you continue to mock me even more with pathetic friendship. You my boy will be the first to die."

Sora then closed his eyes and started to glow Gold and Riku started to glow Black. They then morphed into Ankyronox and then picked Obireb up. He started using his psychic ability on the giant, and lifted him several feet into the air. Ankyronox soon felt pain in the gut of his stomach. "Feel that? That's my psychic energy piercing you suit and advancing into your blood stream. Soon you will be dead within the hour from my toxic psychic poisoning.", Obireb said. Ankyronox then said, "Not if we get rid of you first." Ankyronox's sword then glowed purple and he made a circle in mid air. It opened a black gate and he called it the 'Dark Vortex'. Ankyronox said, "In the Dark Vortex, it senses the most evil creature in the area and sucks every last bit of them into it thus destroying them from existence completely. That's right you darn fool. Your psychic powers are null and void when your gone, which means the poison will be too." Obireb yelled no as he was sucked away into the portal and when it closed it disintegrated into dust.

Ankyronox changed back into Sora and Riku and were transported back to the club where everything was back to normal and the group was alright. They then saw Carter and Lee running telling them to come with them to the cab. The cab driver then drove off and right behind them was six guys on motorcycles. Riku still in his suit whacked one of the tires out and that guy flung backward and hit the guy behind him. The cab driver, whose name was George as Carter had called him, was told by Carter to be aggressive, and reluctantly agreed and turned the car so fast that one of the guys ran into a parked ambulance that was open and went right through the windshield. They then took a sharp left then right and that motor cycler hit a truck in the other lane. Carter saw another guy behind him and said, "I got this one." As he tried kicking the guy, his leg got caught and he was being pulled out like a banana from its peel. Lee then pulled Carter and the guy into the cab, Yuffie took off the helmet and Lee punched his lights out and that guy flung back and hit the cycler behind him. At a price though the group fell out of the cab and everyone except Lee and Carter were unconscious.

They woke to find themselves in a sewer with Carter and Lee right beside them. They were being held by Kenji himself. "Go ahead Lee. Tell your friends about your Shaundi." "Shaundi? Your brother?", Carter asked. Lee and Kenji then began to speak some more Japanese and soon enough they were taken off to another part of the sewer, but Lee then kicked one of the other guys out cold and the whole group was chased down into the sewer. They had landed in the worst possible spot ever. They were in the one tube were garbage and other gross stuff went down the French pipes. Sora then said, "Well that's just great!! Now we all smell like last week's pizza." Carter then said, "I'm gonna kill you Lee!!" Pretty soon the group got out of there though and got into a hotel to spend the night in. Sora told them that they would stay in another room and the only thing that they would have to do is call them on over in case of an emergency.

The group became still and quiet as they rested up in their nice quiet hotel room. They heard shouting in the other room and a door slam. Hours passed by and the group didn't hear any commotion going on in the other room. Carter had been gone for four hours. Sora then said, "Oh crap. I hope Carter and Lee are going to be alright." Riku then said, "If you ask me they kind of remind me of you and me Sora. We have our differences. Yet despite all of that we go good together like salt and pepper or ice cream and chocolate syrup." Yuffie then said, "Speaking of which have we called room service?" The group then heard gunfire and Tidus said, "I'd better cancel those truffles then huh?" The group then ran into Obireb once more.

Sora then said as Obireb held Reynard in his arms, "That does not make any sense at all. How in heck did you survive?" Obireb then said, "What does it matter? Either you do as I say or else the French man here will be pushing big daisies soon." The agreed and Obireb told them to go down to the main theatre house in Paris to look for a woman named Genevieve. They were also obliged to ask her for a package. It could very well be a bomb or simply a board game. Yet Obireb at a bomb detonator in his pocket and would not hesitate to push it. So the group headed on their way seeing Reynard out of harm's way to the theatre. There they saw Carter in a fancy suit singing with a pretty woman in stylish black and white clothing and above them they saw Lee singing from a trapeze. They all soon got anime teardrops on the backs of their heads again and Riku said, "Remind me not to get them anything to do with karaoke night back home." Sora then said, "Done and done."

As they said this they saw a few men open fire on them and then ran off to catch up to Lee and Carter. The group caught up to them just outside the theatre as they got a taxi. Believe it or not it was George yet again who was the same driver yet again. Carter then said, "Looks like some kids don't have a curfew do they?" They nodded and said that they did, but their parents weren't around so it didn't matter. George then asked them if he could drive them full time no charge saying that he always wanted to know what it felt like to be an American and to kill someone with no reason attached to it. Although Sora did go to the back seat with Donald and Goofy, the others couldn't help, but laugh at their fear thinking it was adorable. Even Carter said that there was no way he could be an American, George said he would drink this starbucks coffee or "this s" as he called it all day if he had to and Carter couldn't help, but agree and told him to take them to the hotel.

As soon as the group got back Carter then said, "I'd think it'd be best if we call it a night okay? We'll call you guys if we need you okay?" Sora nodded and the others went back to their room to discuss what they needed to do. Riku got the package that Genevieve had and it turned out to be a bomb. It had instructions on it: 1. Go to Reynard's Parlor and take one of his pens. 2. Find Shai Shen. 3. Bring Genevieve to Obireb. Riku then said, "You know he could've made it easier on himself if he just said bring her dead. We all know that Victor has no more women he needs and that last step is kind of on the money right there." Mickey then said, "Whatever Obireb's up to we'll have to keep a good eye on him." They soon heard gun shots and then went into Lee and Carter's room to find the place broken up a bit. Sora asked, "What happened?" Carter said, "Thanks to Lee Genevieve has a flesh wound on her arm." "It's not my fault. She snuck in.", Lee replied.

Riku saw another note that said, "Bring Genevieve alive. I got special plans for her." 'Fat chance. Obireb I've had just about enough of you.', Riku thought as he crumple the note and threw it on the ground. The next morning, the group, which now consisted of Genevieve, headed off to George's house for safety. Genevieve said as soon as George left and his wife left the house, "We need to get out of the city." "We're not leaving until you tell us exactly what's going on. Did you steal that list from the triads?", said Carter. Lee said, "Genevieve we can't help you until you tell us the exact truth. Where is Shai Shen?" Genevieve then said, "It's right here." As she took off her wig, Carter said, "Holy mother of Jesus she's a man!! I just went to second base with a damn French man!! It's the crime games. I'm Brokeback Carter!!" Genevieve then replied in anger, "I'm not a man it's just a wig!!" Lee said, "You have Shai Shen?" "No, I am Shai Shen.", Genevieve said as she turned around and around the back of her head was a list written in Chinese. "In the ancient times when the Triads would select new leaders, they would stick the names of them onto a woman." Genevieve turned to face the group. "A woman who could carry the names of the leaders to the thirty five provinces of China. When a new leader was elected, the woman would be beheaded and buried forever no records, no witnesses." Carter then implied, "What kind of a tradition is that? Haven't these guys ever heard of a damn fax machine?" "Kenji made me do it, said it was a great honour. I wanted to do it for him, for the brotherhood." Lee then asked, "Then why'd you send the list to the brotherhood?" "I thought the brotherhood could protect me. But now I see. Nobody can." Carter then said, "You're messed up in some pretty big s lady…I mean man, whatever the hell you are." Genevieve yelled, "I'm a woman. They'll send an army to kill me, just to protect their way."

Sora then said, "I think I know of a place where we can go." "Really? Where to then?", Carter asked. The group then arrived at Reynard's Parlor. As they did they said goodbye to George and he then said in a disappointed manor, "I won't be here when I come out I'm sorry. My wife says I can't be a spy and that I have to be home for dinner. I guess it's my destiny to be a cab driver. I'll never know what it's like to be an American or to kill for no reason." The group then left and Sora just watched as he drove off sighing along the way. 'Poor guy', he thought when walking off to Reynard who was just coming out of his parlor and then asked about Genevieve's protection saying that they found Shai Shen. As they talked Reynard paid close attention to every word they had to say about Shai Shen and then he stepped closer to the woman herself. Reynard then said, "Alright then. Remove the wig now." Lee whispered to the group, "We didn't tell him where it was." Lee quickly grabbed a pair of scissors on his table, Sora grabbed a pen of his desk and Reynard had just told his two Chinese associates to raise their guns. Lee then said, "Genevieve, take their guns!!" Reynard nodded and then the woman took the guns and said to them in French to get down on the ground and put their hands over their heads. Carter then said, "I told you he was bad. Didn't I tell you he was bad?" "No.", Lee replied. "Well I was thinking it. The explosion at the Parisian part of LA. What was that?" Reynard replied, "A paid executed plan by the World Criminal Court to distract from the main target." "What about at the hotel? You talked to me there about going to the theatre.", Lee said. "A mere attempt to get you out of the way so Jasmine could get rid of her. Now since you messed things up, things have taken a different approach." Carter then got a mad look on his face and said, "It's over Reynard. You know what happens to old guys in prison? They call you pops. You work in a library. The only friend you'll have is a mouse." Reynard then said, "Au Contraire mon ami. I'm not going to prison. You have a phone call Inspector." Sure enough someone was on his phone line in waiting. Lee pressed the call in waiting button and it was Kenji offering to make a trade. He had to give him Genevieve in exchange for Soo Yung. They were to meet at Gills Bon Restaurant on the top level of the Eiffel Tower. As they were conversing time froze again and the group, excluding Lee, Carter, and Genevieve, were knocked out cold.

When they awoke, they were tied up to the walls of the Eiffel Tower and that same Asian that Sora and the others saw in L.A. was holding them hostage. Kenji had them being watched by a group of men in white clothing. He then said, "You have a lot of nerve fighting my brother's fights." Sora then asked, "Who are you talking about? Lee?" Kenji laughed and nodded. "But of course. Why else would you be in Paris if not for the Triads next plan. Not like my godbrother would understand anyway." Riku then said pointing to a girl tied up underneath a table, "So you're a Japanese assassin and going to kill Soo Yung then." Kenji just laughed and said, "Oh but of course. You are all pests in plans. Every last one of you. Of course it wouldn't be complete without him." Obireb then stepped out of the shadows and then gave Kenji a billion Euros. Sora then said, "I should've known that would've been too easy. You're fool of surprises aren't you?" Obireb said, "Yes and now I'm going to kill you." As he used his pschokinesis on Sora Riku slashed at his ropes and then ran up to attack, but was stopped dead in his tracks. Kenji then said, "Well I must be going. I should hope to see you again Obireb." "Likewise." Mickey then transformed and slashed Obireb at his chest. He spat out blood and said, "How could this be? You managed to pierce through my psychic abilities." Mickey then said, "You don't know who I am do you? I was Yen Sid's apprentice Obireb." Mickey then got out his sword and Obireb using his mental power to create a transparent purple keyblade.

Mickey did a quick back shuffle. Left, right, left right, it never seemed to end and then Riku and Sora transformed into their armoured forms to join in the fight. Obireb summoned another purple keyblade and fought all three of them at once with such ease. Riku tried to get behind him, but Obireb countered Sora and then repelled Riku to the ground. Mickey then jumped off of Riku and did a twirl in mid air slicing his left hand. "You'll pay for that mouse!!" Mickey then said, "I'd like to see you try big boy!!" Mickey hit his keyblades once, twice, limbo dodge, thrice, four times, five times, and then he did a summersault and whipped his legs. Mickey and Obireb seemed to be evenly matched hit for hit. They both stared at each other panting and injured all over their bodies. Sora and Riku decided to let them have their fight their way. "Impressive mouse. You have more skill than you appear to have with your face." Mickey then said, "Likewise Obireb. Now how's about we settle this once and for all." Obireb nodded and stepped back five paces as did Mickey. They then ran as fast as they could, jumped up in mid-air and sliced each other as they landed on opposite corners. They stood still for five seconds until Mickey started to fall to one knee. Obireb then fell to his knees and then to the ground. He slowly turned to dust revealing section # 13.

Mickey had clearly won his battle. Yet as soon as they did this, they saw Soo Yung tied up on a railing that made the Eiffel Tower function well. Beside her were gears flowing in opposite directions. Above her was a giant gear rotating clockwise and there was a rope that if pulled on one end would send her up to the gear itself. As they went to help her the group noticed that there was a broken window and guys unconscious everywhere. Riku then asked, "Were those guys there before?" Mickey then said, "It's Obireb. When he used his psychic abilities he messed up time in general. So thus now while we were fighting in cyber space in the Eiffel Tower, there's been a fight up here the whole time." Sora then said while looking out at the dark sky, "I guess that explains why it's so dark out here."

The group then saw an Asian woman in odd brown clothing carrying a fan with her and the entire group, except for Sora and Riku, who were transported to Kenji and Lee who were fighting on the tower itself. This woman looked to be about thirty and she had knives inside her fan and started to walk on over to Soo Yung's ropes that held her in place. They tried to fight the woman with all they had except she was very skilled in her martial arts. She stood over Yuffie having her at the chest and the woman had fan inches from Yuffie's face. "Now you will die!!", the woman said. Then a gun shot. The woman walked off the edge of the tower to the dark city below. James Carter was right there with his gun in hand and his pride rejoiced. "Good things do come to those who wait." The group cheered and then brought Soo Yung down from her prison.

Meanwhile, Sora and Riku were busy helping out Lee fight Kenji. He was a skilled Japanese fighter and what's more he fought so hard there were actually scrapes all over Sora's suit as well as Riku's suit. Kenji then cornered Sora and stood over top of his chest preparing to give him the final blow. "Goodbye little man!!", Kenji said. As he did this Lee tackled him and soon all four of them fell to the netting which Kenji broke with his sword. As they held on to dear life, Kenji urged Lee to let go. Even when he didn't, Kenji forced Lee's fingers free and he fell to his doomed death.

Then Lee, Sora and Riku headed back up to the top floor where they heard gun shooting Carter and the rest of the group, as well as Sora, Lee and Riku, grabbed a French flag and fell towards a nearby fountain below. Luckily the flag was big enough for all of them to hold and even when some of the Triads shot at them nothing seemed to stop the flag from staying uplift in the air. They then hit a fountain nearby the World Court of Paris that broke their fall and saved their lives in the end. Then Lee said, "Hey Carter. You know how I have always been constipated?" Carter then said, "Yeah." Lee replied with a sigh, "I'm not anymore." Then as they got up to their feet all soaked and wet, they saw Reynard holding a gun to a woman's head. Carter then said, "Genevieve." Carter pointed to Reynard and said, "Hey you're the head of the World Court. What are you going to do? Shoot us down like animals?" Lee then said, "We're police officers. These guys are also just kids." Reynard then replied, "Yes and you two just killed this girl. You blew her brains out." Genevieve called out Carter's name. As Carter ran up to save her He said, "No don't do it!!" and a gunshot was fired, but it wasn't at Carter even though he pulled the gun towards him.

It wasn't even Genevieve or Lee either who was shot. Reynard then fell into the fountain blood spewing out of his jacket like a ketchup bottle. It was George, the cab driver, holding a gun in hands. Riku then said, "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" As the police soon arrived Carter congratulated George on a job well done and everyone else then took a look at the new page they got for Anastasia's journal. Carter then told Sora, "Remember man no matter where you go or who you see, Lee and I always got your backs!!" Sora smiled and said, "Good to know. Thanks." Carter replied, "Yeah, I'm not good at a goodbye. Yet learning is no problem though." The group smiled and then said their goodbyes to Lee and Carter while heading back to the gate to Radiant Garden. When they arrived, they noticed that two of the barriers were gone and the gates that had the symbol of a mirror and a car on them were opened. The group, as always, headed into the gate with a car as a symbol for it and rushed on into the glowing light coming from it with expected thoughts on stopping Victor at his own game.


	30. Chapter 29: Lightning McQueen

**Lightning McQueen**

As the group was entering the world, Maleficent was back in her old castle on Hollow Bastion spying on Victor and the worlds he had taken over through his malevolent destruction. Jafar appeared behind her and then said, "May I ask for a pardon?" "Go right ahead. I'm just concocting a scheme to make that boy come running. So far though, he is an even greater threat than I am. He has captured more than a thousand worlds and taken over fifty million inhabitants from each one. Even Sora and his group have been only nothing, but a little thorn in his side." Jafar replied, "If I may, there is something I would like to discuss about. It's Darkness." "Yes and what may that be" Jafar continued, "Darkness apparently has captured some of Victor's worlds too one by one. He has twenty of them and took them over in less than two hours under the boy's nose. I propose a process of elimination. If we can somehow get those two locked in an arms race for the universe we can slowly take each and every last world from under their noses and then capitalize on their weakness." Maleficent smiled and said, "How intriguing. Perhaps it might work. It would be wise to keep a close eye on the situation nevertheless. Be wary, once Victor falls we will have Sora and his group to deal with afterwards." Jafar nodded and disappeared.

The group found themselves in a giant desert that looked like that of Arizona. It was blazing hot, there was nothing but cacti everywhere you looked and the canyons were so huge you could drop a stone from the top of one of the rock columns and not hear the echo until a few minutes later. The group suddenly all transformed once more, but into cars and other vehicles this time. Sora was a red B.M.W., Riku was a black Ferrari, Mickey was a blue Porsche, Donald became a green helicopter, Tidus was a white truck, Yuffie was a yellow motorcycle, and Goofy became an orange Lamborghini. The group was doing alright for the most part, but they were unfortunately lost in the middle of a giant dessert. "Well this is just perfect. We are not only tired and hungry, but we're also lost too.", Yuffie said. Sora replied, "We're not lost. We are just in a little twist in the road that's all." The group then saw an old sign that read: Radiator Springs 20 Km. The group kept 'driving' until they ran into an old town that looked like it hadn't renovated or touched up in years.

Everything looked abandoned until another Porsche like Mickey arrived on the scene asking if they wanted to stay the night here. Pretty soon a jeep, a 1960's van, and other varieties of car drove off to ask them try some 'olive oil' or dine at their gas station restaurants. The group then spotted a red looking race car pulling a huge tractor like vehicle across the road and behind it was a trail of black cement. The road seemed to stretch for miles backward from where Sora and others came from, but that car just kept on going with all of his might. The group then drove up to talk to the race car himself. Sora asked, "What are doing mister?" "What does it like kid? I'm trying to spread some cement over this road pavement here. Until I complete it, I can't leave this town.", the car said. "You can't leave? But why?", Sora asked. The car then said that he was Lightning McQueen, best of the best in car races and one of the fastest in the entire country. Or he almost was. He was entered into the Piston Cup Final against two other cars. One was Chicks Hicks, representing "Hostile Takeover Bank Team", The King who was the all time champion in his day going into retirement representing "Dinoco" and then there was Lightning McQueen, representing "Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment Team". Lightning McQueen was a shoe in for winning the cup except when his tires blew out he only managed to tie himself with "The King" and "Chicks Hicks" instead. He was on his to L.A. where he would race in one final event to determine who would get the cup, but he got separated from his driver and practically destroyed the entire town driving down the way he came.

The group didn't know what to expect, so instead they took a timeout to discuss what was going on here. Sora then said in the huddled crew, "I say we help finish the road." Yuffie then said, "But he seems kind of stuck up and all. Are you sure he can be trusted?" Mickey then said, "If we help him out, he should be able to help us out kind you know. Who knows, maybe he can help us. We need seven more pieces to Anastasia's recent page. Maybe he saw a page just like it." The group agreed and then Sora said, "We'll help you finish this up." Lightning McQueen then said, "That's very nice, but I don't have anything to repay you with." The group then said that he didn't need to pay them back with anything. They told him that this was something they decided they wanted to do for themselves. The race car turned away and then looked up at the clear blue sky above him. The group took a guess and thought that he was thinking about the race and then hooked themselves up to "Bessie" as the townsfolk called the asphalt machine and then started helping out Lightning McQueen out as fast as they could. The other townsfolk didn't mind this because it meant more and more people would be staying in their old town for a while anyway.

As the group did this over the past few hours, the all of sudden noticed that Lightning McQueen drove off with the blue Porsche towards a big canyon. Yet before they could follow, they were ambushed by dozens of heartless vehicles. Before them was Maleficent herself, but as a hologram. "Well well well. It would seem that you fools have been doing well for yourself against Victor. Even when he's the most powerful you've managed to grow in power. You could all prove very useful to me.", Maleficent sneered. They talked for a few minutes about Darkness and the worlds he took over and how he was an even greater threat and how Victor had to deal with him, Sora and Maleficent at the same time. Sora then said, "Oh no. You mean we've been helping you out all along. It's just like Organization XIII all over again." Maleficent then said, "You're even more foolish than I thought. Of course you're not helping us. Victor is taking over more worlds than you can comprehend. The only use you are to us is that you're providing a distraction. Soon enough Victor will fall and then I will take over from what little he leaves behind." As Maleficent left, Sora raced for her saying, "Not if I have anything to say about it!!"

The group then began fighting all of the heartless as they could and soon enough Lightning McQueen arrived and then finished off the rest of them with his racing skills. Behind him Sally Carrera drove on by winking at him and she gave Lightning a smile so big it was the size of Nebraska. Then the group suddenly figured out what was going on. Tidus then said, "Someone's having fun tonight huh? Hehehehe." Lightning then replied, "Us no!! No!! We were just talking that's all. I don't know what you're talking about." Sora then said, "So then we didn't just see her winking at you with that big smile back there." As Sora gave him a clever smile Lightning said, "Doesn't your face ever get tired of doing that? Alright fine. I guess we did talk about a few things on the hill back behind us." He was pointing to the back hills where they talked about how popular Radiator Springs used to be and that when they built a new highway, everyone stopped taking the old road to L.A. that bypassed Radiator Springs.

Lightning then started to talk about Sally. She was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. He couldn't stop thinking about her and what she meant to him. In a word, Sally was a pure innocent angel from heaven above. As Lightning continued to talk, it only made Sora think about Kairi and how much he missed her so. His heart felt empty and cold like a can of fruit that had just been opened. Riku sensed his sadness and then drove up close to his saddened comrade. Riku said, "We'll get her back. I promise we'll see her again." Sora nodded and smiled thinking that his friend was right and that they would see her again. Before the group knew it though, they were surrounded by countless media everywhere. They took Lightning McQueen away and the group had constantly struggled to find him the crowd of L.A. police and crowds of cars.

Yet no luck. By the time everyone left, Lightning McQueen was gone. A black looking police car appeared, introduced himself as Sheriff and then told them he was at the Piston Cup final in L.A. since he too was in those races and won three piston cups straight in his time as a race car. They drove as fast as they could beyond the long stretched highway and then found Lightning McQueen in the race of his life. It had just started. As they cheered, a black hooded figure placed a dark ring around the green car that Lightning called Chicks Hicks and as Lightning McQueen passed the finish line he drove to fight him seeing that he was going off into the stands to fight the spectators. Sora and Riku then transformed into their Sacred Protection armoured forms and then into Ankyronox to finally take down the ring and stop things from there. They also found another piece of Anastasia's journal page. It didn't have much on it and wasn't clearly legible to make out. Either way though a page was a page and they had just succeeded in gaining a piece of one.

Lightning McQueen then drove off to Sally and said, "Listen, I know that I just won the Piston Cup though, but I told them to give it to the King instead." Sally then yelled, "What?!? But you always wanted one of those. You never stopped talking about it ever since I met you. What happened?" Lightning continued, "It wouldn't be the same if I just up and left for Dinoco. Ever since I met you I knew we were right for each other. The truth is I feel empty without you Sally." Sally then said, "Oh Lightning. You really mean it?" Lightning continued, "It's as true as that little tattoo on your back." As Sally giggled from being reminded of it, the group felt a cool warm breeze in the midst and then said their goodbyes as they headed off towards the gate.

Meanwhile, back at Castle Oblivion, Victor was spying on all of this and then he sensed a great dark aura behind him and it was Darkness. "So I hear that Darkness was the one I was trying to control all of those years ago.", Maleficent said. "Not like you would know witch. You're a pathetic excuse for a Disney Villain. In fact, from what I know the greatest Disney Villain in my opinion was Pete. You even know that as well don't you?", Victor chuckled. Maleficent sighed at that comment and nodded. She then said, "Doesn't mean he was the most successful." Victor then said, "You know I'm mighty tired of playing these games. Why don't we settle this my way." "A duel? You're direct.", Maleficent said. Victor nodded and then continued, "Meet me at the Fantasmic Musical Opera. It'll be more fitting to face you all at once." With that out of the way Maleficent disappeared into darkness and Victor disappeared into a blinding light.


	31. Chapter 30: The Prince's Kiss

_**The Prince's Kiss**_

As the group then entered in the next world, they found themselves inside a giant forest. It was all coniferous and it seemed very peaceful. The only thing that could hear was the cool breeze of the wind blowing in from the north. Mickey then said, "You know I think I've been here before." Sora then said, "You have?" Mickey nodded. "Yes. This is Snow White's world, Sacred Hallows. It's not like any other world. From what I remember Snow White's world as well as with Cinderella's and Aurora's world were the most vulnerable to heartless attacks. That's why they were part of the first that were purged by them by Xehanort, his heartless and even his nobody too. Be wary you guys. This world won't be easy to overcome. You must use your strengths to guide you." They nodded and soon left on their way traveling through the woods gazing upon the various nature that they saw. The group then heard a girl singing. They traveled far and wide up north until they came across a white well. From it sat Snow white. She had luscious brunette hair, her face was innocent and pure like that of a child, her skin was as soft cream and white as snow(hence her name), Her blushed cheeks were as red sunset, and her eyes sparkling brown that in such could easily entice any living creature to be soothed and relaxed. She wore ragged old clothing and carried a bucket with water inside it and went off to the castle steps to clean them up. A prince saw her and from the look in his eyes everyone guessed that he fell in love her. He was very handsome indeed. His nose was cute and straight, he wore a blue vest garment with a shade of yellow outlining for it, he had a red cape, white shirt, light blue silk pants, beige boots, a blue robin hood like hat with a white feather protruding from the top of it and his hair was strawberry brown. His smile was as pure and calm as the sky that dominated the land everywhere else.

Yet as the Prince went to hold her in his warm arms, she stepped back and turned away. Mickey then told his puzzled friends, "Snow White was always a shy girl. She's naïve and cheerful, but very shy nevertheless." Sora then asked, "How do you know that?" Mickey explained that many years ago, he sat by her mother's side when she was dying and made a promise to her to protect Snow White no matter what. The Prince asked her why she ran away, and she replied that her step mom wouldn't allow visitors while she was hard at work. Yet the Prince was in love with the girl and her beautiful singing voice. He couldn't help, but wonder. Yet before he could ask again Snow White disappeared. A white hooded figure appeared and put his arm on the shoulder of the prince and said, "It's okay. She'll come around. After all, I mean come on. What girl could resist you?", Victor said. "I guess you're right Victor. You're a good friend.", the Prince replied. "Hey don't mention it. I got some big things to take of here that depend on you getting that girl to be with you." He nodded and then they both walked on into the woods.

The group pondered as to why Victor would help the prince out. He was obviously still conquering worlds so there was no way that he would help out. Sora then said, "Maybe he's asking for help or something like that." Mickey then said, "A likely answer. Yet I still wouldn't bet my tongue that that's the reason though. I mean Victor still has his crew of men scowering the entire universe for his project's ingredients. There has to be another reason." "What if I could solve this little riddle?" They turned around and noticed a man with a hooded suit speaking with a German accent. He then said, "Would you care to listen? Or would you rather kill me like you did to my brothers." Riku then said, "You guys are enslaving innocent people. You never seem to want to come to terms with us so what choice do we have. I bet that you're just like the rest of them. Nothing but cowards." The German accented man pulled out his weapon which was a Longsword. It was black all over and a foggy aura covered the sides of it completely.

"So I'm a coward am I?" The group gasped and told Riku not to do this, but he insisted that he knew what he was doing. A barrier soon appeared in front of them. Riku then transformed into his armoured suit and took out the Sword of Darkness. "An intriguing weapon you have there, young man. Yet a sword is only as strong as the man who wields it." As the German accented man ran forward and went on the offensive, Riku began to struggle to keep the hooded man's sword away from his body. They slashed left to right, then right to left and they both stepped back a few paces and tried attacking from quickly from every angle they could must from. Riku then locked swords with the hooded stranger. He then said, "Not bad for a beginner. Although I admit I have seen better, you do have the workings to become a fine warrior. You possess darkness, anger, hate. All of which are signs that you are like me." Riku stared at Sora, then Mickey and soon enough the others and they smiled with determination written on their bold faces. He turned and faced the stranger with an angry face on him. "I am nothing like you!! Unlike you hooded freaks, I have friends at my side. That's something you don't know or ever will know about!!" Riku then slashed at his legs and missed. The hooded man then retaliated and went on the offensive again. This time he did it more aggressively. He kept attacking Riku at his chest and attempting to break his main defense to overpower the white haired teen. Riku valiantly pushed him back ever more and even sliced a piece of his right sleeve off clean. The hooded man kept on attacking in the same spot until Riku attempted to attack him at the chest and his sword got knocked right out of his hands. He fell to his knees and the hooded man flung his sword inches in front of his face as a sign of victory.

"Lesson # 1: Never attack in the same spot as your enemy. You make yourself seem predictable." As the hooded man withdrew his sword back into its case and started to walk away, He turned his head and said, "You have the makings of a true warrior. Yet you constantly let your emotions seal your fate. So has it been in this battle, so too will it be if you are to face Victor or Darkness eventually." Riku asked, "How do you know about Darkness?" "When the master created all of us, he gave us knowledge about himself and his past. That included his friends and his enemies. Darkness was the very first enemy we thought about together. You'd best be wise not to underestimate this foe." As the hooded man walked away, Riku asked, "Who are you?" The hooded man said, "I am Attm, another of Victor's top elite. I am part of his three elite generals. You unfortunately killed off Daynebr who was the second elite. He was weakened by Kazuya before he faced the mouse and then you and the boy with the keyblade. Had that not been the case, you all would have perished against him. Let this be a warning. Next time I won't let you go so easily." As he said this, Attm walked into a dark portal and disappeared.

As the group left to find Snow White, they found footprints leading into the dark woods, beyond the castle that they were at while fighting Attm and spying on Snow White, the Prince and Victor. As they walked into the spooky forest they saw fog everywhere along the ground and could hardly tell which way was north. It was so spooky, that it seemed like there were a dozen eyes watching them and spying on their every move. Yuffie then said, "I really don't like the looks of this place." Donald then said, "Compared to what Sora, Goofy and I have faced, this is nothing. It'll take a little more than a few eyes to scare me." Then a demonic laugh appeared and Donald quacked and jumped into the air into Sora's arms. Sora got a little embarrassed and then dropped Donald to his webbed feet on the ground. Mickey, having been on the world dozens of times saw Snow White's footprints and then followed them out of the woods as did everyone else. In the midst of the trees, the Chernabog spied on them and disappeared.

As the group went about their own way, the stumbled upon a tiny cottage by the river that bypassed the castle a few miles away to the west. Here they saw deer, rabbits, swallows and other animals frolicking near the riverbed enjoying what bounty they could receive from it in their little community. The group also noticed some commotion going on inside the cottage itself and then went in to investigate. As Tidus opened the door, they saw Snow White dancing with a tall man who was nothing more than Dopey and Sneezy inside it. The group got a little freaked out, but understood that it was a party and decided to have some fun. Snow White however ran up and hugged Sora with all of her might. "Oh Sora. It's been ages. I can't even remember the last time we talked together." Sora then said gasping for air, "Neither…have…I." As he escaped the bear hug that the girl gave he smiled and then started to ask Snow White if he saw a boy in a white hooded suit anywhere or a piece of paper flying anywhere. She didn't see a boy in a white hooded suit from her account, but she did have a piece of paper in hand. She received it when a hunter took her into the woods and attempted to kill her, but said that he couldn't harm such beauty.

The group now had three pieces of eight in their possession. Yet they soon heard a commotion coming from outside. When Sora and the others went to investigate, it was an old wrinkly witch in black clothing. She had an apple in hand and looked as creepy as Maleficent, but uglier. Heartless soon appeared around the cottage and she ordered them to attack. As Sora and the others fought them off the old witch managed to get inside. Sora gasped and yelled no. Yet it was too late. Even after the group defeated the heartless, as they went inside they noticed Snow White on the ground. She wasn't moving and after Riku checked she didn't have a pulse. The group began to get tears to their eyes and the old witch said, "That girl was so naïve she actually let a stranger into her own home!!" Sora turned wiping the tears from her eyes and said, "You'll pay for that!! How dare you take a life? Have you no shame?" The old woman then turned into the Queen while saying, "Actually…I don't. I am now the fairest of them all. My magical mirror always said that the girl was always the fairest because of her kindness and beauty. But now that she's gone, she'll never return." "Don't bet on that miss America!!", said Victor as he came on the back of a horse with the Prince.

Victor gave chase to the Queen and they disappeared into the dark woods. Meanwhile, Snow White was put onto a coffin, and then taken into a sacred place of the forest known as "Eternal Meadow" where all things pure and full of light were placed upon death. The group along with the dwarves and the animals sighed and cried staring upon Snow White and seeing her in death, but her body showing full signs of life and vibrance. The Prince walked up to the coffin and then knelt down and with a final kiss awoke Snow White. When she did awake she smiled at her rescuer and then the Prince carried Snow White in his big strong arms and soon enough, all the dark parts of the woods disappeared. Everything in the forest was full of light. Even the castle that the Queen used to rule from glowed with a white aura of vitality. The group smiled for a while until Darkness suddenly appeared and then said in his dark voice, "How touching. A prince and his princess are united as one and lived happily ever after." He started to laugh with satisfaction and continued, "Oh how I dread that feeling. The very thought of love makes my gut spew blood." As Sora and the others rushed to the lovers' protection, Darkness put up a dark barrier which prevented them from penetrating it. "I'll deal with you later, but first things first." As Darkness rushed his left hand forward to strike Snow White a white hooded boy appeared and stopped his hand with only his index finger from his right hand. Snow White and the Prince smiled as they saw the boy and Victor then grabbed Darkness once more and plunged into a dark portal.

Sora then asked, "What's with the smile? He's evil. He's trying to take over the universe as much as Darkness." The Prince then said, "Not from the way I saw it. Thanks to him, I got the confidence to go after my true love. I owe that boy my life." As they walked away into the woods with the dwarves beside them, Sora thought, 'Could it really be true? Has Victor been a good guy this whole time? Leon and Merlin were always saying never to judge a book by its cover, but I really think Victor does have some good in him. He was friends with Xehanort, he helped Anastasia when he was only a little kid, and now he helped out Snow White and the Prince find true love. I don't know what to think anymore.' The group then said their goodbyes to Snow White and the crew and left gate. Back in Radiant Garden, beside the gates to Radiator Springs and Sacred Hallows were two new gates: a gate with a penguin on it as a symbol and a gate with a black cauldron on it as a symbol. The group just randomly picked to go into the gate with the penguin as a symbol thinking it was the safer way to go and nothing more was said as of that moment.


	32. Chapter 31: The Antarctica Tango

_**The Antarctica Tango**_

The group found themselves in a cold barren wasteland. There was ice that stretched for miles across the cold tundra, a mountain range that was half the size of the Rocky Mountains and there was no cloud cover either. It was a clear sunny day for the crew in this spot. They didn't transform or anything. Their clothes changed into parkas though. Sora's was red, Goofy's green, Donald's blue, Riku's yellow, Mickey's orange, Yuffie's purple, and Tidus' beige. Sora then said shivering, "Who knew of all the places we could possibly be we're on the coldest place on the planet? I'm freezing like no tomorrow over here." Riku then said, "Well it sure isn't any picnic on my part. Oh well, now I guess we should start looking for a piece of paper to Anastasia's journal page. How many do we need again?" Mickey counted the pages and said, "We still need another five. Although judging by how big this place is, it could take us a while. Especially since there aren't any people for miles on Antarctica." Tidus then said, "I think that goes without saying there your majesty. It's so cold the only thing that could live here is a penguin." Yuffie then stomped on Tidus' foot and said, "Quiet you. I heard something." The group listened closely and there was a sound, excluding the Antarctic winds that kept blowing around. They could only hear the sounds of penguins coming from a small valley to north of them and they bypassed cracks in the glaciers and cliff sides to find a huge colony of emperor penguins singing to each other and from a glance the group noticed white fluffed feathered penguins much smaller than the black feathered adults.

The group also thought they were hearing things, but then they listened closely. It was no joke. Sora then said, "Well this is a first. Talking penguins. Oh well, I guess it could be worse." To which Riku replied, "Yeah we could be losing our marbles on this one." The group then took a brave chance and asked a penguin if they saw a man in a white hooded suit or a black hooded suit in the area. At first they were frightened because they were humans and didn't know how to react to them, but after Sora and Riku caught a fish and handed one to them they started to come around. The penguins then replied no to their question. Riku then asked, "Did you at least see a piece of paper flying about somewhere?" Then an elder Irish speaking penguin appeared from his roost ten feet above the nesting grounds. At first he was trying to shoo the group away from their home, but eventually he too saw that they weren't going to hurt any penguins. He said in his Irish accent, "As a matter of fact I did young lad. It was blowing about two miles away from here and then we saw it blow all the way across our nesting grounds towards the sea." As they heard this the group then left as fast as they could towards the eastern coast where they then saw a few smaller penguins and one big one like the other penguins that they saw back at the nesting grounds, except he was different. His feathers were still white as well as his face. As they went up to talk to the penguin he shuddered as well as the other penguins who were smaller than him did as well. They stepped backwards towards the sea to make a daring escape. As they tried to escape, they all saw a man in a black hooded suit appear and grab the tallest penguin with his bare hands. He said with an Austrian accent (essentially German, but Austrians take pride in their nationality being nothing alike to that of Germany (no offense to readers who are of Austrian heritage or Austrian in general)), "Don't move now. It only makes it harder on yourself when you do." The group took out their keyblades and weapons and prepared themselves to fight.

"I can see that my timing couldn't have been anymore impeccable. I can get rid of you and take the penguin with me as well." Riku then ran ahead and transformed into his armoured form and said, "Not if I can help it!!" The hooded man then said, "You must have the courage of a thousand armies to try and attempt such a bold move. You don't even know these penguins do you?" Riku shook his head and said, "No I don't." The hooded man continued, "Then may I ask you this. Why do you all try and help others when you clearly don't even know each other nor owe a promise or a good deed to them?" Riku then said, "You're right on the fact that yes we don't know them nor do we owe them squat. That doesn't mean though that you can kidnap them either. I bet you don't the guts to run off with him."

The group gasped as he said this wondering why he would taunt the hooded man. The hooded man then said, "You think I don't have guts do you? Well listen up. I am Sirk. I have more power than you could ever imagine. I'll take my leave for now, but I won't be going empty handed." With one quick side step he grabbed Goofy and Donald and disappeared into a dark portal. As Sirk disappeared, the penguin with the white feathers said, "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have been dancing at that party last night. Had I just kept my mouth shut I would've been having a good time and then that guy would've never came and kidnapped those two." Yuffie then knelt down beside him and said, "You know beating yourself up doesn't make the situation any less real. Besides it's not your fault. Its Sirk's own doing. He's to blame for all of this not you." The group then heard footsteps beside them and then stared at a redheaded man in a suit similar to Cloud's own clothes. He was much taller than him and looked to be about Axel's height. He also had blue eyes and red hair. The only thing similar between him and Cloud was that his hair was styled the same way and his face was the same as Cloud's.

He grabbed a chunk of ice and snow from the ground and sniffed it. As he took in a deep breath, he licked his index finger and then checked for the direction of the wind. Sora then asked, "Hey mister what're you doing?" The tall figure then said, "I'm getting closer. Just a few more feet and I'll find her." As he ran off the group then decided to follow and see what's up. As they followed him they asked, "Who are you talking about?" Yet the redheaded man stopped at a cliff and said, "Those pitiful fools." The group stared at what he was looking at which was really nothing more than a research lab where scientists from around the world studied Antarctica. Riku then said, "So they have a lab. So what? It's not they're hurting anyone." The white feathered penguin then said, "They must be the guys trying to snatch our fish." The group asked what he was talking about and the white feathered penguin mentioned that a few months ago their supply of fish wasn't as bountiful as it was growing up and many of his fellow birds thought it had to do with him and his tap dancing. The penguin population he grew up with thought singing the 'Heartsong' as they called it was the way a penguin should be and has been tradition that they do it to find a mate and to live in prosperity, but he couldn't sing even if he wanted to. His throat was too high pitched for that. Yet whenever he tried to dance, his fellow penguins always shunned him for it. The redheaded man then said, "As sad as that may be, might I ask what you intend to do about it?" The penguin then said, "I'm going to make them listen. You never know unless you try. And I am willing to get them to listen." The redheaded man then said, "A bold choice to be decided. Just make sure you don't let your emotions get in the way of doing it."

As the redheaded man was about to jump onto an iceberg twenty feet away, Sora said, "Wait. We don't even know your name. Who knows? Maybe we'll see each other again." The redheaded man then said, "My name is Valadain. I too hope to see you all again very soon. Who knows you might be able to help me find Felicia." As he leapt onto the next iceberg nearby and jumped away into the cold winds, the group then got introduced to Mumble and his Spanish talking friends the adelies, Ramon, the leader, Raul and Nestor and last, but not least the twin brothers Rinaldo and Lombardo. As the group began talking about what they would do next, they then saw a helicopter appear from the sky and two men in red parkas came out. They then saw the group and said, "What're you kids doing here? This is no place for youngsters like to be in." Sora then asked, "Who are you calling kids?"

Riku then said, "We could ask you the same question." One of the men said, "We came all the way down here because he got footage of a penguin dancing and came to see what all the commotion was about. It would appear that it's true then. This penguin is obviously telling us that his fish population is in decline then." Sora asked, "How do you that?" The man said, "When you get into zoology so much, like I am, you get a good understanding of the animals you meet and their behaviour." As they talked a group of heartless soon gathered around them. One of the men asked, "Who are they?" "Heartless. They mean nothing, but trouble.", Sora said. They then got out their weapons/keyblades and attacked as many heartless as they could. There were thousands of them everywhere. Riku sliced up five to twenty in one strike, and Tidus and Yuffie knocked out thirty or more by working together through combined attacks. Even Mumble managed to destroy a few with his tap dancing skills. Yet it still wasn't enough. Mickey then said, "We should fall back gang. There's too many of them." As they turned to leave they noticed that they were at a cliffside. The two scientists then got in the chopper and told the group, which now consisted of Mumble and the adelies, to go with them. As they did, more and more heartless attempted to grab onto the plane. Only one did and he got destroyed by the chopper's back propeller.

The group then told them where the nesting grounds were and Mumble then stepped out with his penguin friends and then the same elder penguin that Riku and the others saw told Mumble that he was banished and had a lot of nerve coming back there. Then he told them they had to dance to get their message about the fish across. At first the penguins refused, but then Sora and the others started to dance like Mumble did which was just two taps with both of your feet, a step back and a double step at the front. Soon enough the entire penguin population did this and the scientists filmed every last bit of it and took their footage on the chopper and left for home telling the group that they would make sure the fish would never be hunted here again.

Soon enough, a black hooded man appeared with Donald and Goofy strapped onto a huge rock near the nesting grounds and took out a long golden curved bow and near his right leg was a yellow case filled with red arrows with black pointed tips. He pulled down his hood to reveal a man with a face similar to that of Marluxia except his hair was white and his eyes were green. He then pointed one towards Riku and said, "You'd best transform if you expect to live. When I shoot these arrows, they always hit their target." Riku then said, "You'll regret saying that to my face. Now I'm going to use that as your weakness too." Riku then transformed his armoured form and started to run up towards Sirk with his Sword of Darkness. Riku dodged one arrow, but it merely missed him by a centimeter taking out a tiny piece of his hair. "I tried to warn you. Now it's your fate.", Sirk said.

Riku kept slashing at each arrow that came his way, but they kept coming at a faster pace and always seemed to either scratch his armour slightly or cut his face bit by bit. Riku then got close enough and sliced his bow in two and destroyed his case full of arrows. "Care to surrender now?", Riku said. "Au contraire my friend. I'm just getting warmed up." Sirk then jumped and twirled around in a circle whilst kicking Riku halfway across the nesting grounds. "I also know martial arts. I hope you're ready for this. Because I am tired and bored of playing games." Sirk then used his agility and kicked Riku in the stomach, blew away his Sword of Darkness and kept on chopping, punching, and kicking Riku all over his war torn body. Riku then finally collapsed under all of the pressure and Sirk then stood over his chest and said, "Now it's time I finish this once and for all." As he said this, Mickey ran as fast as he could and kicked Sirk and sent him flying into the glacier. As he picked Riku up, Mickey transformed into his armoured form and they morphed together to become their ultimate level Rainan. Sirk cracked his knuckles and said, "A good kick I have to admit, but it won't save you." Then Rainan used his newly formed martial arts abilities to fight off Sirk and then said with a unison of Mickey and Riku's voices, "Now it's time to finish you once and for all." Rainan yelled Aerial Slash and took a huge dive into the sky and then came crashing down in the shape of an arrow towards Sirk blowing him away into dust revealing a page to Anastasia's journal. It was section # 7. He also had a piece to Anastasia's journal. What's more all four of the pieces began to glow and morphed together becoming the top half of the page. Riku and Sora then untied Donald and Goofy and were with the group once more.

As the group celebrated their victory, the penguins heard the splashing of fish and then said their goodbyes to go and feast as much as they could. Sora and the others saved another world yet again and returned to the gate saying good bye to the cold weather and the life that inhabited it. Back in Radiant Garden, things started to look different. The sky was red signaling that it was sunset, but in a clear distance near Maleficent's (Ansem's really) old castle where she ruled from two years earlier. Sora and Riku then stared at it and Sora said, "Looks like she's up to something." Riku then said, "No doubt. She mentioned something about Darkness taking over worlds as well. So it looks like Victor's not the only threat anymore to worry about." Mickey then ran up to them and said, "Regardless, we should still look after getting Victor out of the way first. As long as he remains the core problem for us, there's no world that's safe." Sora and the others nodded agreeing with him and then headed off into the gate with a black cauldron for a symbol. Victor was hiding behind a gate that had a barrier closing it off and then appeared saying, "That's right. Go ahead and take care of Maleficent and her crew as well as myself. You all will be wishing that you rather had me to deal instead more than you realize very soon." Victor then disappeared into a blinding light just as the cloud overtop the Castle of Radiant Garden began to grow bigger and bigger.


	33. Chapter 32: Here Comes the Bride

**Here Comes the Bride**

The group soon found themselves in a large dead forest, covered in at least five inches of snow and was watched over by a low hanging moon in a cloudless sky above. As they started walking on an old bridge near what looked like a frozen marsh, they saw up ahead many tall buildings that looked dark and gloomy. Even their sophisticated charms in the architecture didn't make them look any more inviting. This place was a dark as they came, and the group was in the middle of one of the darkest parts of the entire universe. Sora looked around and asked, "Is this Halloween Town?" Donald then replied, "No, of course it's not Halloween Town. It's too gloomy, even for Halloween Town. Besides, if this was Halloween Town, we would've seen Jack around about now." Sora nodded and then said, "Well if this isn't Halloween Town then where are we?" "Black Thorn Forest.", Riku said. Sora and the group looked at Riku and Sora asked, "How'd you know that?"

Riku then said, "There's a sign over there by that church in the distance." As Riku pointed northwest of their position, the group saw a white church about fifteen feet from the marsh and only about a five minute walk away from the woods. Near the entrance was a sign covered in thick moss that said "Bl-ck Tho—For--t". They ran up ahead to the church and then cleared the moss which then read "We don't welcome thee to Black Thorn Forest, a world of many gloomy days and gloomy nights. Please, don't enjoy your stay, as it may be a disruption to our daily routine." Sora and the others got confused and Sora then said, "For a fancy place like this they sure don't like company here." The group then heard someone talking in the woods behind them. He was saying something in the tone of marriage. Mickey of course told the group that in nineteenth century England, people always said a phrase like, "Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine" if someone was getting married.

They then ran ahead into the woods to see who was making the proposal and stumbled upon a tall slim man, resembling Jack Skellington in a way, but his eyes were slightly closer together, his hair was scruffy and messy, his face was pale, and his complexion was very dull and sad, hence being an inhabitant of a world like this. In his right hand he held a ring and as he put it into a twig, it suddenly started to come to life. The twig was actually a skeleton's arm and from that arm came a zombie like body. It was a woman with blue like brunette hair, wearing an English woman's bride's dress, which had a tiny piece torn out at the left side of it showing her ribs. All around the tall man was a crows fleeing for their lives and he did the same in kind. The group started to turn pale and then green over this sight. Mickey then said, "Dead or not, they still might be able to help us out, if we help them out so let's go!!"

The group ran as fast as they could and saw the tall man cornered on the frozen marsh a few feet away from the bridge, as the dead corpse then said, "I do." and then grabbed him. They both disappeared into a dark portal and the group followed as fast as they could into the dark abyss. Meanwhile, on the bridge, witnessing the trauma that had occurred was a man in a black hooded suit. He then said with his Italian accent, "The plan has worked perfectly my lord. Those fools actually followed the skinny guy into the woods, and now they are in the Death Bowels." Victor then said through the man's communications, "Well, what're you waiting for? A taxi? If you don't get this world by the time they come back, your butt is on the line. Trust me when I say this, brute strength isn't always everything." A reluctant Ehalcim then said, "Yes my lord. I guarantee I won't let you down." Victor said, "You'd better hope you don't. Valadain is no pushover. I've had to come down myself to soften him up, and even then he's got spunk. Keep those kids at bay." Ehalcim said, "I shall." and then turned off his communications' device and fled into a dark portal.

The group then found themselves in a bar with only dead people all around them, as well as skeletons, ghosts and other corpse like zombies drinking wine, champagne, and fine cider. They also saw the corpse looking bride and the tall man they saw proposing in the woods awoke and then stared at the girl and backed away until he ran into the group. "Oh dear!! I'm s-so s-s-s-s-sorry!! I-I-I-I didn't mean to b-b-b-bump into you like that!!", said the tall man. Sora then tapped his left shoulder and said, "It's okay. We're a little bit weirded out by the commotion as well. Anyways, I'm Sora, this is Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Tidus, Yuffie and Jiminy Cricket." As the tall man stared at the group he started to turn his frightful frown into a smile and then said in his Johnny Depp accent, "Oh good heavens I'm not hallucinating this. Oh where are my manners? I'm Victor Van Dort. I was supposed to be marrying a girl named Victoria Everglot." As Victor Dort said this Sora then got a mad look on his face and punched the bar table with everyone staring at them. Mickey then said, "Don't mind us. We're just having a talk that's all." Then the people continued talking to each other. Victor Dort then asked, "Is something the matter?" Sora then said with a tiny whimper in his voice, "I'm sorry Victor. It's just that someone that had a similar name like you kidnapped a girl I know. Her name is Kairi. I should have been there to stop him, but I wasn't. Now I just keep beating myself up for it." Victor Dort looked at the rest of the group who looked sad to show respect for their friend and then put his hand on Sora's left shoulder as he did for him. "Listen, I don't know who this cretin is, but I do know this. If the love you have for a woman is strong and thick like the bark off a tree, I know you'll find her." Sora smiled and then stared at Victor Dort and asked, "How do you know that?" Victor Dort then said, "You and I both want someone that makes us happy and have butterflies in our stomachs. I mean my marriage was arranged and I didn't know what to think at first, but then I met her. My dear sweet Victoria. We didn't spend too much time talking together, but I knew that we were perfect for each other regardless of what our parents said about marriage. Of course you probably don't care for such pish posh." Sora then said, "To be honest, you gave me a bit of encouragement just now Victor. Thanks. You're good company." As Sora said this, the entire bar sighed, "Awwwww" and then a short skeleton with a blue coat and blue royal hat came up to him and said, "That was beautiful kid. I can also help you, if you want to find a girl." Sora perked up as soon as he heard this and then the skeleton told them that a hooded man had a girl looking just like Kairi carried off into a dark portal a week ago, saying that the portal led to Sanshobi.

The group figured they would go there, but decided to first help out Victor Dort get to his true love. The group, including Victor Dort, then talked to the corpse bride, named Emily, asking if she knew a way out. They of course had to listen to her back story which was essentially that she was a rich girl when she was alive and was proposed by a well sophisticated, thin, stern faced man. He told her to meet her by the old oak tree in the woods to get proposed, but her dad said she couldn't go. She went anyways, dressed in her mother's wedding gown and when she looked around for her hubbie-to-be a random overcoat man killed her and since then had been cursed to walk among the dead unfulfilled. The only thing that could break the curse was if a young strapping man came along and proposed to her. Unfortunately for Victor Dort, he was the "guinea pig" of the solution. As the group ran out, they then found Emily on a bench outside the hub inside a huge cavern filled with European architecture and alleys. Tidus dropped his jaw and asked, "Wasn't she just in the pub behind us?" The group nodded and Tidus said, "Oh good. Glad it's not just me." He got a quick kick in the butt by Yuffie and then Emily gave Victor Dort a present (wedding present essentially). As he opened it, it was a pile of bones which then came together to form Victor Dort's puppy dog, Scraps. As the dog licked him extreme satisfaction, they then went to visit a man (rather a skeleton man) named Elder Gutknecht inside his old library. Victor Dort asked him if they could return to the surface, and that he said the only to do this was through a "Ukrainian haunting spell" (irony because I am Ukrainian).

They only way they could return is if either Victor Dort or Emily said the word hopscotch. Victor Dort then said hopscotch and a light appeared around them and took them out of the elder's library. They all soon found themselves back in the old gloomy part of Black Thorn Forest and then Victor Dort ran off into the city to a random part of town telling Emily to stay in the woods saying he was going to talk to his parents about her and leaving Sora and the others behind. As Sora and the group ran up to catch up to him, Hades along with a group of heartless arrived on the scene. Sora then said, "Hey I thought you guys couldn't leave your own world." "We have that kind of power. Please get used to it. But now on to bigger things. New plan for you kiddo. You see ever since you all beat the pants off of Maleficent, let alone myself, we've all been devising a plan for payback.", The blue god sneered. "That's not all.", said the Queen of Sacred of Hallows. She appeared from a dark portal and continued with another group of heartless behind her, "We also plan on taking back all of the worlds you set free. Once we get rid of you then nothing can stop us." Jafar then appeared from a portal with a group of heartless and said, "No one except Victor and even now he is preparing to face Maleficent in a one on one duel by himself with no powers aiding him." Sora then said, "So you guys are against Victor too?" Hades then said, "Well yeah. He's been nothing, but a pain in the arse as far as we're concerned. Now obviously we would go and attack you little squirts. We of course are feeling rather nice today and feel it as being a waste of time. So we're going to tell you this once. Don't mess with us in the near future. Otherwise you're going to have an elite squadron of heartless at your doorstep. Kapeesh?" They all disappeared leaving the heartless behind to fight the group. Yet before they could do anything, they heard a sword slash and all of the heartless were gone in a flash.

It was Valadain. He wielded a sword like Leon's except it was dark red and had a black aura all around it. He then said, "I guess she's not here either." Sora then said, "Thanks Valadain. I know that Felicia isn't here, but we appreciate you helping us out." He then said, "Don't thank me. Thank the tall guy who told me to come here. He's the one who told me to look in the woods so that's where I'm going to go!!" As he said this he jumped ten feet into the woods and scraped the frozen river as he did making his next jump. As the group headed into the cold streets of the town, they saw a light in a room on the right corner of a tall building that had a sign that read Everglot and heard the word hopscotch.

They were then transported back into the undead world where Emily then yelled at Victor Dort for lying to her about going into town to talk to his parents about her. She ran off, with Victor Dort calling her name, but to no avail. "Well that could have gone better." Sora then said, "Perk up. She's just a little upset, that's all. She'll get over it." Victor Dort then said, "No it's not that. She saw me talking to Victoria. She knows I'm in love with her." The group gasped, and he continued, "Oh why did I have to recite my vows in the woods? Pour quoi?" Victor thought about it for a second with Scraps at his right side and then said, "You know what? I'll ask her to be my wife. I practically put the ring on her finger anyway." The group gasped again and Yuffie asked, "But what about Victoria?" Victor Dort then said, "I know what I said about her, but I made a promise to Emily to marry her, even if by accident, it still is a vow I must enforce." The group sighed and then agreed that they would go along with this little venture just to get him to come to his senses.

The group waited outside an abandoned building, as Victor went inside and then started playing the piano with Emily. At first, she didn't bother opening up, but then she got renewed energy and felt like a million bucks afterward. Victor Dort then ran outside and proclaimed his marriage to Emily. Many undead skeletons and zombies as well as ghosts heard this and made a giant wedding cake and then traveled up to the surface world as well as Elder Gutknecht being the priest to conduct the wedding.

He told her that they could be a couple until 'death do them part'. Obviously Emily was dead, but Victor Dort wasn't. The elder created a wine that was poisoned enough to kill him in one full glass. As the group traveled up they soon found themselves at the white church where they began their entire adventure and sat down in the pews preparing for the wedding of Victor Dort and Emily to begin. As it came near time for him to drink the wine, Sora caught a glimpse of Kairi behind a column next to Emily. When he rubbed his eyes it was a young pale woman, like Victor Dort, who was a resident of the world. She had white blonde hair as well as a pale complexion like all the other living residents of the world, wore a grey dress like the other women, and her face was so soft looking she could easily be mistaken for someone in her late teens. It was Victoria Everglot.

As Victor Dort raised the cup of poisoned wine to his lips, Emily grabbed it out of his hands. Victor Dort asked, "What are you doing Emily?" Emily then said, "Don't you see? If you go through with this, she'll be left alone. Just like me when I died. I won't let that happen." As she said this, she grabbed Victoria's left hand and put it clenched with Victor Dort's right hand. They smiled and chuckled a little at the thought of being together, to which a tall man resembling that of the murder story that Emily told the group appeared and then said in a British accent, "Over my dead body!! Get your hands off my wife!!" Emily then became shocked and got a mad look on her face. "I know you. You're Lord Barkis. You killed me a long time ago and took my family's fortune with it. You're nothing, but a snake!!" Lord Barkis then said, "Emily? You're here with the rest of this wretched rotting lot." Sora then said, "I don't know who you think you are, but you can't talk to her like that." Sora drew out his keyblade as well as did Riku and Mickey and then Barkis laughed a little and took out a sword of his own. It was a think two metre sword and was grey from the blade past the handle which he held it from. Barkis then said, "If you want to settle this boy, I suggest you all learn from a pro on how it's done right." Riku threw Victor Dort a sword to fight with and the entire group ganged up on Lord Barkis.

He of course jumped from the top left corner of the church to the top right corner and back and forth. In between he jumped and quickly slashed at the majority of the group leaving only Sora, Riku and Mickey standing after the first ten minutes. They then transformed into their armoured suits and tried teaming up on him. Sora slashed at his knees, while Mickey went for his chest. He blocked against both attacks and repelled them and as Riku jumped to attack him at his head, Barkis did a back flip and stabbed Riku in the stomach. Sora cried out to Riku and then ran up to attack Lord Barkis head on. He kept on trying to hit him with the Sword of Light, meanwhile Barkis kept back shuffling it and repelling Sora. Sora never gave in though and kept attacking him as best as he could. "That's right you sniffling brat. Let your anger flow through. You'll never beat the likes of me like that.", Barkis said.

Sora then remembered all the times that Victor mocked them over the lack of power they had compared to him. He then thought, "Maybe he's right. Maybe I do rush in too many times, and that puts more people in jeopardy. Well no more!!" Victor Dort then stabbed Barkis and while he was distracted, Sora took a look at the wounds that Riku got and bandaged him up. Meanwhile, Barkis had Victor Dort cornered on the ground and was about to stab him, but out of the blue his sword was cut in half. Particularly, it was sliced in half by light. Sora then saw at the door was a white hooded boy who then took his index and middle fingers clenched together and waved them to his right as if to say see you around and then ran out the door as fast as he came in. Sora then smiled and thought, 'You've done it again Victor!!' Emily then ordered Barkis to leave and he smugly agreed. As he did so he began drinking the wine glass on the table as a form of a mock-toast to Emily saying, "Always a bridesmade. Never the bride." He walked through the pews then turning into the dead himself. As he began to leave for the front door in panic of his current state, the rest of the undead, appalled at his behaviour took him into a dark room and began torturing him to their hearts desire.

Victor Dort then started talking to Emily saying that he proposed to her and made a promise. Emily then said, "You promised to set me free. And so I have. The curse has been lifted and I can rest in peace." As Emily did this she threw a bouquet of flowers in the air and was caught by none other than Victoria Everglot. Emily then disappeared whilst turning into butterflies and as Victoria Everglot stared at Victor Dort she blushed and turned her face away as he began to smile naturally and pleasantly. He then said as music began to appear, "Victoria … may I have this dance?" He held out his right arm to which Victoria raised her left hand up to her face and giggled saying, "Yes. Yes you may." She then took his right arm in her left and then they began dancing like there was no tomorrow. As the group sighed in happiness, Sora saw a vision just like he had a two years ago back in Halloween Town when he saw Jack Skellington dancing with Sally.

He saw Himself and Kairi dancing together and smiling at each other and laughing at whatever life threw at them. He turned red smiling and then Donald said, "Hey Sora. Are you sick or something?" He slightly giggled and Sora gasped covering his face with his hands saying, "I'm not sick. There's just a draft that's all." "Yet there's no wind in here.", Riku replied being anxious. Goofy then said, "So how come your face is all red?" Sora gasped and said, "My face is not red!!" the group continued to tease him about it and a white hooded figure stared from a distance saying, "Good job Sora. You've done it again. Now you know what I meant." As he said this he turned away and disappeared into a blinding light.

The group then returned after saying their goodbyes to Victor Dort and Victoria Everglot, who gave them a piece of paper matching Anastasia's journal, to find two more gates open. One had the symbol of a black hat and a thin sword for a symbol and the other gate had an Ark for a symbol. The two pieces of the page to Anastasia's journal they found morphed together and morphed with the page that was complete making only two pages remaining. The group then headed off towards the gate with an Ark for a symbol and the gate closed sharply behind them. As they did, Sora thought he saw a black hooded figure at the centre of the island, but made nothing of it and went along with the gang into the gate. On the island, a mysterious cloud figure appeared and called out Sora's name three times before dispersing into nothingness.


	34. Chapter 33: Shark!

**Shark!!**

As the group entered into the world, they found themselves near a beach along the coast, and near along the shore was a giant wooden ark. It of course was empty and no one inside it, but Mickey and Riku were careful standing their ground in case an immediate danger should ever arise. Mickey explained to the group that this world was called Coral Galleon, and was home to a variety of creatures from sting rays to coral reefs and tropical birds to dolphins. Mickey caught Sora at the shoulder just as he was trying to climb aboard the massive craft and said, "Woah there cowboy!! We don't know what's on that ship nor if it's safe." Sora then said, "So? What are we worried about? We got the Sacred Protection on our side so nothing should be able to hurt us right?" Riku then replied, "Not necessarily Sora. You saw how powerful some of the hooded guys we faced are. They aren't going to take us lightly. If anything now would be a good time to investigate. If it's okay, we go on board, if not then we beat the living snot out of anyone who attacks." Sora nodded and then the group began to look around the Ark for anything weird.

The group came back together five minutes later only to say that there were only bottle caps and other pieces of litter that were the only thing on the island besides a few palm trees, coconuts, seagulls and a few insects and crustaceans (I'm not a nerd. I just know these words from a lot of bio.) like beetles or crabs. Tidus then saw three men unconscious on the beach, but judging by the fact that their clothes weren't torn yet, they looked like they had been passed out for two hours. One was fat, had curly hair and wore glasses, another man was really thin and also wore glasses, but had a rougher look to him and looked to be about forty five. The last man wore a captain's hat had a mustache, was skinny and wore really tacky clothes. Yuffie then said she would do 'mouth to mouth resuscitation' and the second that she did this, the men awoke and brushed off their clothes. The fat man said, "I must be seeing things Quint. I'm seeing a bunch of kids and some weird animals too." The guy with the mustache then said, "I beg to differ Mr. Hooper. I be seeing them as well." Mickey being the least bit awkward introduced himself and the others and asked them if they saw a hooded man anywhere. They then said they saw one near their town five miles down south of the island and tried to catch him while on patrol for a shark, but were captured and knocked out cold by a man with a snake staff. A giant great white shark was attacking their citizens on the beach and they had been trying to catch him, but that man stalled them from reaching the beast. The group then thought Jafar and the rest of Maleficent's crew were up to something here. The rough looking skinny man was Martin Brody, a police chief of Amity Island, the skinny mustache guy was Quint, the local shark hunter, and the fat man with glasses was Matt Hooper.

They then asked the three stranded men if they saw a piece of paper to a journal page for their friend. Matt Hooper said he had one seeing that the hooded man dropped it and thought it belonged to him, but was captured before getting it to him. All of a sudden that piece morphed with Anastasia's page and soon they only had two pieces left to find. The group then decided that they would help the stranded guys out and catch the shark. Eventually they built a steering system on the ark and took along some supplies that the island could offer seeing as how it would take two days to get back to Amity Island. As they then boarded the ark, Quint asked Sora, "So what brings you all over here to this world here?" Sora then said, "I'm looking for a girl. A boy in a white hooded suit kidnapped her and I'm trying to rescue her." Quint then said, "Love eh? I can remember the days when I was a lad like you. I too had a girl once and we were ever so happy together." Sora then asked, "What happened to her?" "Unfortunately she was caught by a shark, and drowned in the ocean. I never forgave myself for it. Truth be told, the shark we're going after is the same one that took my dear Francine." (Obviously Quint is more stuck up and power hungry then is being let on here, but work with me here. I'm trying to get some of those connections like in the KH games going so I can preserve that kind of magic in this) Quint then boarded and Sora thought as he was the last one to board, 'Poor guy. To think, I'm worried about Kairi being captured, but this guy lost his girl to a shark. I wish I could help Quint.' Mr. Brody then took the steering wheel and set a course for Amity Island 50 degrees south and 40 degrees east.

**Flashback**

As Victor and his brothers triumphantly defeated their final enemy of darkness, Obeion, they then saw something out in the distance beyond the platform they stood on. It was a giant pillar ten times bigger than forty red wood trees combined. They climbed it and saw it split off into three columns, the middle being the highest, the left being the second highest, and the right one being the smallest. Victor's little brother went to the right column and grabbed the Sword of Balance and transformed into a brown armoured knight. Victor climbed towards the left column and grabbed the Sword of Light and transformed into a white armoured knight. Victor's older brother climbed to the top and grabbed the Sword of Darkness and transformed into a black armoured knight.

From that moment on, they also saw three lights shine down from out of nowhere in the midst of space and they heard a voice tell them, "Well done my children. Thanks to you your world is safe. However, that also means that now you are responsible for anything that may happen to anyone on your world or in other parts of the universe."Victor's older brother then said, "So I guess we're going to have to have to travel a lot I take it?" The voice said, "Don't worry. I'll make sure that you get to where you need to go as fast as you need to as well. All you have to do is believe in me. From that you shall receive eternal life with me in paradise."

**Present**

The group, which included Matt, Mr. Brody and Quint, found themselves around the deepest parts of the ocean and the sun was shining like light bulb in a wide open room, but something was troubling Mr. Brody. He was staring out at the clear cloudless sunset while both of his arms were crossed along the ark's wooden railing. Riku caught on to this, walked towards the railing right next to him and then asked him, "So what's the matter?" Mr. Brody then responded, "It's my family. If I don't catch this shark, they're all going to die if they even spend on second on that beach. Plus heck I'm in charge of the police force on Amity Island. If I don't make things right, then who will?" Riku then said, "I had the same kind of problem way back when. My life was consumed by jealousy." He pointed to Sora telling jokes to Goofy and Donald. Mr. Brody then said, "I see. So you had trouble adjusting to the fact your buddy has friends of his own as well." Riku nodded. "At first it was painful. I mean we were best friends for years until we left Destiny Island to explore new worlds. I thought Sora was going to forget me. Yet I was wrong. I know that things always turn out okay in the end, not just because I think it, but because I know it. If I can handle Sora having his friends, I know your family and the people of Amity Island can survive one shark no matter how big he is." Mr. Brody nodded and smiled showing his respect to the young teen.

"Well isn't that touching? You know it's not every day I get to have a glimpse of that now." Riku turned to see a white hooded figure sitting on top of the ark's roof staring at the group to which Sora drew out his keyblade and said, "You have a lot of nerve. Now you're just playing 'good guy-bad guy' on us aren't you? Give Kairi back or else!!" Victor laughed and said, "I hate to say this, but or else what?" Sora then replied, "Or else I'm going to come up there and make you regret doing what you did a couple of weeks ago." Victor just chuckled and said, "Man oh man you do go emo pretty often don't you?" Sora stood his ground frowning and staring at Victor in the eye. Victor sighed and said, "Look, obviously I'm being inconsiderate so I'll tell you what. You come down to Sanshobi and head up to the top floor of Castle Oblivion, I'll be right there waiting. We'll settle this man to man. But just to show I can be a nice guy…" Victor snapped his fingers and then out of the blue came white heartless with red eyes. Sora stared at the heartless and then looked back at Victor. He then said, "I see that you've been busy lately." Victor then said, "What can I say. You guys have been a pain in my butt since day one, but then again I knew you would do this."

Everyone gasped and then Sora continued, "You knew we would defeat a bunch of your buddies and take back some of the worlds you controlled?" Victor nodded. "Also that you would get stronger and I also knew that Maleficent wouldn't give me an easy break so yeah. Sue me. I can predict your every move. It's only a matter of time before you all suffer my wrath anyway, so really I'm just biding my time. There's no rush." Victor disappeared into a blinding light just as Sora said, "You coward. Come back here!! Face me like man!!" Victor then said with an echoey voice, "All in due time, Sora. All in due time."

The group then drew out their weapons as Sora, Riku and Mickey transformed into their armoured forms and then started to run and slash five heartless. Yet when they did they disappeared into a fast blinding light and appeared behind them and tackled the group. Riku then said as he held twenty of them at bay, "I guess it's true as they say, old dogs learn new tricks or something like that." Mickey then said, "It sure seems like a tough predicament we're in. How can you fight something that can just bounce away with the kind of power Victor has?" They then heard a voice say, "You just have to look for a weak spot." Twenty heartless were slain in a single slash and the group saw that it was Valadain. Sora then said, "Valadain. But what about Felicia?" Valadain then responded, "Remember the Golden Rule Sora? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I know my fair love is in danger, but if she were here she would tell me to help others before herself. She is a well known princess for things like that. But enough about me. Let's do this!!" Sora nodded as Valadain put his right hand on Sora's shoulder and then the both ran forward combining their attacks to slash heartless to the left, back flip to the right knock out forty on both sides. Riku meanwhile lead forty heartless towards the ark door, ran up the door as if it were a wall and jumped off it twirling to the ground slashing and destroying the heartless quicker than they could move. Even Quint, Mr. Brody and Matt had shot guns they could use against them and shot many heartless themselves.

Every last heartless disappeared, but the group didn't have time to celebrate. Clouds were starting to form by the coast near Amity Island, which they were only a mile and a half away from, and what's worse Mr. Brody saw a huge five metre fin pointing straight up from the water. "Shark!! In the water!! There's the Shark!!", Mr. Brody yelled. As the group turned and looked they saw the fin and then the huge head that accompanied it. It was the biggest thing they had ever seen from the ocean floor. Sora and Riku transformed together in their armoured forms to form Ankyronox to go and fight the beast. As they jumped off the ship on top of the shark, they underestimated its strength and resilience. It kept moving left and right rapidly to try and ditch the armoured warrior, but barely had to as Ankyronox transformed back into Sora and Riku. They kept kicking for their lives as the giant menacing shark swam closer and closer to catch its fill. Da Nuh!! Riku and Sora just managed to grab the end of a lifesaver. Da Nuh, Da Nuh, dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun!! As they were reeled in, Sora being the last one to get pulled out, the shark jumped out of the water and just barely missed Sora's right foot. While making a huge splash that shook the boat, Sora fell off and was headed straight into the jaws of the giant beast, but luckily a piece of his shoe lace got caught on a crack in the railing from the splash. Quint jumped in to try and hold off the beast while Sora saw this and called out Quint's name telling him not to do this. He just punched the shark in the eye paralyzing him for a tiny bit and shot the shark in the stomach with a harpoon. Sora then said, "What are you doing Quint? You don't have to do this!!" Quint then said, "Oh but you're wrong Sora. All my life, I had been hunting the very thing that made my life go amuck and I lost someone to this damn creature. Someone who meant more to me than all the pearls of this world in total. Now your life is in the balance. If you die here now, I'll never forgive myself ever nor will I have the strength to live again." Sora then said, "Quint!!" Quint then stared at the shark started to come out of its Acoma and he turned to look at Sora and said, "Good-bye Sora. You're a good first mate!!" Sora yelled Quint's name and then both Quint and the shark dove into the water, constantly showing signs of blood clotting the ocean floor. They didn't know if it was Quint or the shark, either way they were still worried and started to cry. The lace then broke loose and Sora began to fall just as the shark noticed and opened it jaws out wide to swallow Sora whole. As Sora fell, he thought, 'You stupid shark!! Quint didn't deserve that!! It's because of you he suffered. It's all because of you he's gone now!!' Mickey and Sora then started to glow and were transported towards each other forming Tikylo. He had a mix of brown armour and gold armour, just as Ankyronox had a mix of black and gold armour and Rainan had a mix of black and brown armour. The giant being clapped his hands together making a huge sound that just temporarily paralyzed the beast. Valadain then jumped off the ark and took his long sword out. He stabbed the giant shark right at his upper jaw and sliced him directly in half down to his tail fin. Valadain was pulled into the ark and it was a clear night. Yet the group felt sad and cried throughout the night. They not only lost a crew member, but also lost a friend. Quint had died doing what was right, despite him being a fisherman, he was a good hearted man. (Or did he?)

As the group awoke they reached shore and noticed the shark beached and completely cut in half thanks to Valadain. Valadain then stared at the giant behemoth looking at its half cut jaw and its black right eye and said, "Looks like he won't be hurting anyone anymore. Not anymore." Donald then said whimpering, "Yes but at what cost?" Goofy then said trying to cheer the duck up, "In the end he did what he thought was right. If it weren't for him, that shark would've gone after Sora. We need Sora if we're going face Victor." Mickey then said, "It's seems that we can also morph into our ultimate levels even without being close to each other or touching our hands. Sora fell just about forty feet and yet he and I teleported to each other and paralyzed that shark while Valadain killed it." Valadain then looked at the shark and then sighed stabbing his sword into the soft sand. Sora then noticed this and asked Valadain what was the matter. Valadain said, "I didn't kill that shark!!" Sora then asked, "What are you talking about? We all saw you slice it in half like a sandwich or a cheeseburger. How can you say that?" Valadain then pulled the harpoon from under it's belly. "I saw him jab this at his stomach. Yet…" He pulled another harpoon out and continued, "…this was right at the thing's chest. It tore out a huge chunk of flesh right out. I also noticed that there was no human body in it's jaws when I attacked it either."

Sora gasped and then the group turned to the sea and saw Quint in the flesh walking along the sand up to dry land opening his arms out. Sora ran ahead as did the entire group and gave Quint a smacking big hug. Even when they all squeezed, Quint didn't mind. He knew he did the right thing in the end. Sora looked around for Valadain, but he was no where to be found. He then thought, 'Good luck Valadain. I hope you find Felicia someday.' As the group said their eventual goodbyes, Quint then gave Sora a pearl. "It's for your girl my boy. You treat her right now, y'hear?" Sora smiled and said, "Thanks Quint. I will." Sora and the others then waved at the three men as they left through the gate home to Radiant Garden. As they did, they noticed cloud cover getting bigger around the old castle and not only that but a barrier appeared over some cloud cover at the centre of the island as well. Yuffie then asked, "What do you think is in there? A gate?" Mickey then replied, "Whatever it is we'd better keep our eyes peeled in the next little while. I have a feeling something fishy is going on here." As the group agreed and left into the gate with a hat and sword, a light began to shine amidst the cloud cover and a gate formed from where the cloud cover used to be, but Sora and the others left too soon to notice.


	35. Chapter 34: The Legend of Zorro

**_The Legend of Zorro_**

(Please note that the following will use some occasional Spanish. Please no flames if I get a word wrong or anything. I don't speak it too well so just a little heads up. Again, please no flames, it would mean a lot. Thanks.)

As Victor stood in the Californian desert and basking in its heat, he stared out into the morning sun thinking and plotting his next attack. A dark hooded figure then appeared behind him and said with his Spanish accent, "Sure is hot out, my senor. But I guess that's the Old West for you. Anyway, I hope that you'll be pleased with what I have done." Victor pulled down his hood and smiled, "I have to admit Ceir. You have done your homework. Just don't get too carried away. After all, you are still on a very tight leash. Plus Maleficent and her crew have been turning up all over the universe trying to take my worlds like they were ice cream cones from an ice cream truck. Not only that, but Darkness found his way into this neck of the universe." Ceir then said scraping the ground with his twin bladed spear, "I don't see a relative problem though. Those little ni os will take care of those pests and let alone Darkness has only captured five planets, all of which are not even part of your plans anyway." Victor then replied, "Is Reylt in Destiny Island yet at least?" Ceir nodded. "All he needs is your signal to take it over.", Ceir said. "Tell him to do it now without stalling. I have other business to take care of. In the mean time I want you to deal with Sora and his little gang. In case you do meet up with Zorro, which you might, try not to underestimate him. He fights like you do and is no pushover.", Victor replied as he disappeared into a white portal. Ceir placed his twin bladed spear in its case and turned away to the south heading into a dark portal.

Meanwhile, the group had just arrived on the scene in the dessert area that was California. By the look of things, it appeared to be a celebration in motion as they saw U.S. symbol flags everywhere and the words vote on every Spanish-Mexican made home. Riku then said, "Did we just get blown right out of the sky when we passed through or did we just go back in time without a warning?" Mickey replied, "I can't argue with you on this Riku. I do think we did go back in time." Goofy then asked, "I don't mean to be a pest or anything, but how can ya tell your majesty?" Mickey then pointed to a random building in the middle of the town square. It had red shillings and had a white cement like texture to it. It also was well built to keep its residents cool and was quite inviting because of all the heat outside. "That's why. Only two places I know have that kind of building: Spain and Mexico. Since we're nowhere near Spain I would guess Mexico." Riku then said, "But that sign says vote California into the United States of America today." Mickey then saw a sign with that exact printing with the U.S. flag in the centre of the letters. "Hehehe… So it does. Oh well. No sense just standing around here. We should go check things out here. Be on your toes you guys. There's no doubt Victor's here. I can feel his presence.", Mickey replied as the group started looking around for any hooded guys.

They did see a hooded guy, but not the guy they we're looking for. He wore a black cape and a black hat. He also had a bandana around his eyes to preserve his secret identity as well. When people saw this they yelled Zorro to the top of their lungs as ten men appeared with guns and tried firing at the black masked fighter. He swooped down on the thin rope hanging up the banner of the State election and leaped onto a black horse which carried him off towards a bridge. The group ran as fast as they could, but by the time they got to the bridge he managed to defeat every last guns man in the town. They also stared up at the towering bridge and noticed the man didn't have his hat on or his eye bandana. He looked like an ordinary man in his thirties or forties. What's more he cleverly scraped a piece of his bandana off and covered his face as the group saw a man in a cowboy suit run off while giving the group an odd glare. This cowboy had dark clothing, had long greasy brown hair and his face looked like it was barely shaved either. What's more he had a scar in the shape of a cross on his left cheek.

The group then saw the black masked man with a box in his hands. Sora then asked, "What do you have in the box mister?" The masked man then said, "Go home little ninos and nina. This is no place for you. Especially those animals there. How on earth did they get clothing like that?" Mickey, Donald and Goofy were a little insulted, but let it go seeing as how he did seem like a hero to the people back in the town. Sora then said, "Listen I know we might be a little young, but you see we're here to find a boy in a white hooded suit. He's holding someone captive and…" The masked man then said, "A boy?" Sora nodded. The masked man continued, "I didn't see a boy, but I have noticed this strange piece of paper lately. I saw in the distance outside of town was a black hooded man. He dropped it and I thought it was his. He didn't take it and I just talked to him about it for a couple of minutes. He didn't say much except that my glory days were coming to an end. Who knows what he means by that. I'm sorry though. I am Zorro, masked hero of California and a role model to the ni os of the entire state."

Sora nodded and said, "I'm Sora. This is Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Tidus, Yuffie and this little guy in my pocket is Jiminy Cricket." Jiminy popped out and said hi to Zorro and He jumped at this sight and said, "A talking grillo. Now I have seen everything. Anyways, I just got this box back from that man who just ran away. It holds the elective votes in here that would make California part of the United States." Mickey then said, "It seems like you work really hard for these people here don't ya?" Zorro nodded and the group then got his horse which he called Tornado. He tried telling it twice to head back to the governor's mansion in English and the second he did it in Spanish it ran off with everyone clinging with their very lives. Riku then said, "Weird horse huh?" Yuffie then said, "Riku now's not a good time!!" Riku flipped his eyes around in a circle and thought, 'Yeesh, someone didn't have decaf this morning.' Eventually they headed back giving the box back to its rightful owners and then Zorro took them back to his place.

Zorro's home was an average looking home for the California of 1850. It was at least two to three acres wide and long and the home was exquisitely shaped and decorated with red rugs and drapes and the walls had paintings of random Spanish men most likely to be Zorro's grandparents, parents, etc. They went into the kitchen and sat down to relax. Zorro then gave them the page and then told the group if they needed anything, all they had to do was give him a shout. They all nodded and watched as he went off into the night to fight the good fight. However they heard in a room upstairs where Zorro was addressed as Alejandro and he was talking to his wife Elena about the situation with him being Zorro. The group tried to ignore it, but then eventually a man in a brown vest and pants with a white shirt on came out and walked out the door with a suitcase and started climbing onto Tornado. Sora then asked, "Zorro? Is that you?" The man then asked, "Is it really that easy for you to tell?" Yuffie then replied, "You just sort of went into the back yard and jumped onto the balcony. Lucky guesses really are that bad huh?" Alejandro then said, "I'm just plain Alejandro right now. Yet when I hear the bells ring I turn into Zorro and help out those who are in need. Yet my wife has just divorced me unfortunately. She says she wants a man who can support the family, but I do that more than she or my own son knows. Oh well it doesn't matter. I best be leaving now."

Sora then asked, "But where will you go?" Alejandro said, "Where all men my age go when things look bleak. A hotle if they have one or to a bar. Guess which one I have." They then followed him to a fancy mansion building at least twice as big as the other home and Alejandro then told them he was stepping out to see his son Joaquin and would be back in a little while. The group rested for a while and before they knew it a day had already passed them by. Riku awoke and asked, "What time is it?" Donald then said looking at a watch he took from Prime City, "It's eight in the morning. We slept the whole night." Mickey then said, "Oh no. Where's Alejandro? A little while my foot he said. He's been gone for fourteen hours." Then Sora got up off his butt and said, "Maybe we should go into town for a bit. We could take in some sights and look around to be sure no heartless are in the area." Yuffie then said, "And do what get captured or worse killed? We're too beat Sora. It's a good idea, but we should get something to eat." Sora then said, "We could do that and look for Alejandro too. I mean we haven't seen any hooded guys around so what could happen?"Donald then got up and said, "Let's not take too long though. Okay? We've been doing so much fighting lately and I'm getting blisters on my feet." Sora then said, "It'll be a quick look around town that's all. Nothing to it. We'll be back before room service even delivers our lunch." They all nodded and left for town just as they had started to relax.

Hours went by and soon the group was walking down a path into the desert itself and finally realized they were lost. Yuffie then said, "Well that's just great Sora. We came out here and for what. That guy probably checked out without telling us and expected us to take the bill." Riku then said, "He wouldn't do that. You heard what he said yesterday. He's been kicked out. He has nowhere else to go." Yuffie replied, "Doesn't mean he's not untrustworthy." Mickey shushed them and said, "Quiet you two. There's enough fighting as is with Victor and Maleficent. Now listen. I thought I heard a scream somewhere." The group listened and heard a scream as well. Mickey then pointed northwest and yelled, "That way!!" as they headed off to a farmer's field that had a sign saying Cortez. There were ten cowboy looking men with guns pointed a scraggly looking guy, his wife and Zorro himself. They also saw the same cowboy that they had seen before at the bridge the other day. Sora then ran in along with the rest of the group saying, "Leave them alone!!" The cowboy laughed and said, "You kids must be dumber than you all look. There's ten of us and just mask man here and a bunch of weak young boys and a girl. Oh that's funny." Riku then said, "You know we aren't as weak as you claim we are. Now please just leave these guys alone. I mean what'd they do to you?" The cowboy said, "They refused to sell their land to me and no one I mean no one says no to Jacob McGivens. Since you kids are being nice like and all I'll tell you what. We'll give ten seconds to run off home to momma before we bust on over there to kick your asses!!" The group drew out their weapons and Sora, Riku and Mickey then transformed into their armoured forms. "If you want to do it the hard way fine. Don't say I didn't warn you kiddies."

The group then split up into two groups. Sora, Riku and Mickey went to help Zorro fight McGivens while Tidus, Yuffie, Donald and Goofy took the Cortezes and their baby they found inside away from all the commotion. Sora, Riku and Mickey punched one guy and then tackled two other guys to the ground with ease, but McGivens had his gun loaded twenty four seven and when he launched a bullet at them they fell down like bowling pins each time. Sora tried hitting his legs, but McGivens jumped up and shot Sora at the helmet and as Mickey jumped with him to attack his chest McGivens quickly knocked him out with the handle of his shotgun. He then twirled in the air and shot Riku at the chest. Riku then said while holding his chest, "Man what kind of caliber you load that thing with? Elephant bullets?" McGivens said, "Nope. I have my own brand kid. I call 'em bulls eye bullets. They hit their target every time."

Riku thought, 'Lucky me' as Riku tried so hard to deflect all the bullets he could. Zorro then swooped in and kicked him flat to the ground and punched him ten times. McGivens got up slowly and then raised his hand to his mouth which started to bleed. He then said, "You know what's really funny though is while you all deal with me and my crew, a guy in a hooded suit is going to blow up the town in less than thirty minutes. Or at least that's what he told me when he passed by an hour ago. So what'll it be? Chase the cowboy or save the town? Ta-ta!!" He then ran off along with the rest of his crew and Zorro said, "Go after the hooded man Sora. I can take of this." Sora nodded and said, "Be careful Alejan…Zorro." Zorro nodded and then jumped on the Cortezes' barn and then leaped onto Tornado and galloped off after McGivens.

Meanwhile the group headed off into town (Sora, Riku and Mickey back to normal) and their saw a black hooded man with a twin bladed spear in hand. "So we meet again Niño or should I say Sora.", the man said in his Spanish accent. Sora then asked, "How do you know my name?" Ceir then said, "The master gave us all of the details on you and your friends. We know everything there is to know about you. You should face it. You are all too predictable as is. Speaking of which." Ceir snapped his fingers and five bombs appeared in the centre of the town square with people screaming and running away in fear. "I would love to stay and chat, but I have other matters to attend to. Play nice now my friends are a little quirky nowadays." He snapped his fingers again and disappeared into a dark portal and in his place was hundreds of white heartless. "Great may as well make them form a giant one while they're at it.", Tidus complained. Then the heartless morphed into one giant heartless to which Yuffie punched him and said, "Nice going Tidus. Now things have just gotten worse." Mickey then said, "Enough. Yelling isn't going to get rid of this thing. Now let's go Sora, Riku. Let's transform." They nodded and then were back into their armoured selves once more and then began attacking the giant heartless while Goofy and the others went to disarm the bombs. Donald then asked, "Are you sure you know how to do it?" Goofy said, "Of course I'm sure. I learned this kind of mumbo jumbo when I was growing up. Only thing we need is to cut the blue wire." He opened it and all around him was nothing, but red and yellow wires. Donald replied, "You were saying…" Sora then said while holding the heartless' foot was on top of him with his bare hands, "Not to be a bother but could you guys maybe quit chit chatting and doing something please."

Goofy then took out his pliers and then cut the middle wire which was red. That bomb didn't even explode or anything, it just ceased to tick. Donald asked, "How'd you know it was that wire?" Goofy said, "Don't you remember the coral and king snakes? Red over yellow kills a fellow, but yellow over black is a friend of jack. I figured it would have to be the centre because after that there are the yellow wires on the right." They then turned their attention to the other bombs and managed to disarm three of the remaining four. Sora, Riku and Mickey were exhausted after holding off the beast for so long and were about to collapse, but then Mickey grabbed Riku's hand and morphed into Rainan to hold off the beast for a while so Sora could rest. Meanwhile, the rest of the group saw in the last bomb a combination of blue, black, green, yellow and red wires. Donald then yelled, "Now what. We got no way of knowing which is which." Goofy then said, "Oh yes we do. Leave it to me I'll figure this one out." He covered his eyes with his left hand and the others ran to the safety of the Saloon five metres to the west and Goofy then cut the green wire at the far right hand corner of his eye. No explosion like the others and the bombs dissolved into dust. Rainan then destroyed the giant heartless and it dissolved as well.

Rainan turned back into Mickey and Riku and Sora got up and shook Goofy's hands. "Good job Goofy. You saved the town.", Sora said smiling. Goofy then said, "Aw shucks. It was nothing. Besides you guys held that heartless off while we disarmed them bombs." The townsfolk then praised the group and cheered as they gave them milk and cookies to their delight and they had a party as well that night. Yuffie then said while Sora and Riku were doing a dance off in the town square, "Guys we should be out looking Zorro." Riku then said, "Shoot. We just got to the good part too. Come on let's go!!" Hours passed by as they searched for Zorro and then heard a boy talking to someone in a prison cell. It was Alejandro and the boy was his son, Joaquin. Sora then said, "Alejandro. How'd you get in there?" He then said, "Long story short Felipe and I found some evidence about McGivens and Armand. Armand is a French count that my wife had been seeing lately, but thanks to the Pinkertons who just captured me blackmailed her into divorcing me and getting close to him. There isn't much time so we best get going to Armand's mansion as quick as possible." Sora and Mickey transformed and then morphed into Tikylo and then they broke down the bars and Alejandro took out his suit and secretly transformed into Zorro without Joaquin looking. He asked where his dad was and Zorro said he was taken to a safe place. He took Joaquin home and then the group headed off to the mansion and snuck in. As they followed a find dressed man who was in fact Armand down to his secret lair, some few miles into the desert, they ran into Elena, Alejandro's ex-wife. They hid behind a few barrels of rich imported wine from France and eaves dropped the conversation that Armand had with his associates. They apparently were part of a group known as the Kings of Aragon and they planned on helping the Confederacy beat the Union in the Civil War with nitroglycerin. They had a stock of it placed on a train heading out towards the countryside. Armand said in his French accent, "So as you can see, with this nitroglycerin we'll distribute amongst the confederacy and then they'll fill in the blanks for us."

One man got up and said he refused to get involved in this and then Armand threw a bottle of nitroglycerin at the ground his feet was on blowing him to shreds. Zorro then said, "That settles it then. We have a train to catch." Just as the group headed for the doorway, Ceir then appeared and said, "I don't think so fools." He took out his twin bladed spear and Mickey transformed and then held his spear at bay with his Sword of Balance saying, "While I hold him off, you guys best get going to train." Sora then asked, "What about you though?" Mickey replied as Elena went back towards Armand's mansion to talk to Armand when he did get back (since that was her cover-up story), "There's a time and a place for things Sora. Now isn't the time to dread over anything. I'll be fine. Go now!! Go!!" Sora then ran off with the rest of the group to catch the train. They managed to get there just in time and slid underneath the train tracks. Zorro lit a fuse that would potentially blow the train to bits, but there was one problem.

Riku then said, "Zorro. We have a bit of a problem. Look." McGivens and Armand were together and had his family captured as well. Zorro then blew on the fuse and it went out, but McGivens saw all the commotion and brought all of them out from under the train. McGivens then said, "Now let's see who you really are." He pulled the eye bandana out and Alejandro in the flesh was revealed. Joaquin and Elena got tears to their eyes having been deceived and McGivens then said, "You. I thought I saw you from somewhere." Armand told McGivens to take Alejandro and kill him someplace private and then Armand boarded the train with, Elena, Joaquin and a man holding a hook with him as well. He was tall and wore white clothing and had an ugly mustache as well. He was bald at the top of his head and looked like he could be a butler of Armand's.

They were then inside a blacksmith and the group knocked McGivens to the ground and he got up and said, "Now you guys are going to get it. I'm tired of playing games." He then took out a second shot gun along with his primary one and then Sora and Riku transformed into their armoured suits and along with Zorro attacked him while dodging left to right and using any barrel or counter in the blacksmith as a defense post. However, he blew them away and then kicked Sora, punched him and at the worst possible time Sora deformed back into his old self. McGivens stood on Sora's chest and loaded a big bullet into his primary shot gun."End of the line kid.", McGivens said. Yet as he was about to pull the trigger Mickey then appeared swinging on a rope and yelled while kicking McGivens, "Not on my watch buddy!!" McGivens went flying onto a table and a drop of nitro landed on his head and exploded on top of him. Sora smiled and hugged Mickey saying, "Your majesty. You saved me." Mickey then said, "Yeah yeah I know. Yet this is no time to celebrate. That train has to be stopped as well as Armand right? So let's get going." Zorro then said, "I know where that train is headed to. I also know a short cut. If we hurry we might just be able to nick it." The hurried off as fast as they could and during the night covered so much ground on Tornado they caught up to the train and Tornado jumped on top of it. Zorro then took Tornado and jumped onto a cart which broke allowing Tornado to fit in. Just in time as well because there was a tunnel that just passed by them as well.

Zorro then said, "I'm going after Armand. You guys best go and rescue my son and my wife. Sora, Mickey and Riku I want you to fight alongside me. Together we may be able to stop the train without blowing it up." They nodded and then they split up leaving Donald, Goofy, Yuffie and Tidus to travel to the carts as best they could to rescue Joaquin and Elena.Yet as they got near to the front, Ceir appeared and said, "That was uncalled for mouse. You sliced a piece of my suit off." As he pointed to his left sleeve Sora then said, "Leave this to me you guys. This is between me and him." They then heard a woman scream and then Zorro said, "Oh no Elena!!" Ceir laughed and said, "What a pity. Even the great Zorro has decisions to make along the way." Riku jumped to the left window and said, "I'll go in and take care of this." Mickey shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sorry Zorro. It looks like Armand is all yours." Zorro nodded and ran off to the front of the train while Mickey and Riku busted the window open. They then saw the same guy with the hook from before and then teamed up on him. He slashed his hook right at Riku missing his face by a mere inch when he moved to the right and Elena put a bottle of nitroglycerin in his pants and Mickey then slashed him and the hook with his Sword of Balance as he fell out the window and it exploded on Armand's associates outside.

Meanwhile, Zorro found Armand and was already fighting him. One slash, two slashes and then a dodge was made by Zorro. Armand then tried attacking at his legs, but Zorro jumped and tried attacking from the air just narrowly getting his sword caught along with his. Sora transformed and began fighting Ceir with all of his might to which he said as they both tried pushing against the other's sword, "How dull. You fight like an old woman Niño. You don't even deserve to have the sword." Sora then slashed again and again repeating left right left right until Ceir was at the end of the cart and at the front. He was barely holding Sora's Sword of Light at bay. "Very good. Perhaps I have been misjudging you. Yet that's no excuse. We shall duel again Niño. Next time I'll use all of my strength when we do fight again." He twirled in a mid air circle and kicked Sora so hard he flew across the cart and landed hard on the next cart behind him. Ceir disappeared and Mickey and Riku appeared on top asking how he was holding up. Meanwhile, Zorro and Armand were evenly matched with nothing, but knives. As Zorro's knife was blown right out of his right hand, Armand pointed his towards his face and said, "A pity it has to end like this." Sora, Mickey and Riku appeared kicking the knife out of his hand and Zorro grabbed Armand by the neck and said, "Indeed. Quite a pity it has to end like this." He tied his tie to the train and then the group headed off to find Elena and Joaquin on Tornado and then they themselves jumped off the train just in time to see it explode as it hit a rail block half a mile away.

Zorro and the group then went off to the town square where the ceremony of California becoming a state had occurred and Zorro who changed into Alejandro told Joaquin, "I'm sorry I lied to you my son. From now on, this is our family secret. I promise I will never lie to you again." The boy smiled as Sora and the others said their goodbyes to Zorro and they also saw the page morph with the piece of the journal page Zorro gave them. As they headed out, the group noticed a gate at the centre and two more gates: one to the north by Prime City covered in a barrier and one to the south nearby the last gate next to the Old West covered in a barrier. Sora then said, "Here we go again." Mickey then said, "Look at that cloud cover. It just seems to be getting worse each time we help another world out. We better be careful going into this next gate." Mickey and the group saw that the gate that was opened had a musical note for a symbol to which Riku said, "I got a bad feeling about this one. It doesn't feel right." Sora then said, "Only one way to find out." They then headed inside and as they did another island formed just ten feet above the island they were on just now.


	36. Chapter 35: The Fantasmic Extraordinaire

**The Fantasmic Extraordinaire**

(Just to clear things up, this is a cross between Fantasia and the Fantasmic ride in Disney World and Disney Land. So don't be too surprised at what I type about here.)

As Victor stood his ground against the tyrant Maleficent in the grand ball room, He couldn't help but laugh. Maleficent sensed his pride and asked, "What on earth do you have to be cheerful about? You and I are battling for the very fate of this universe and who shall rule from it. I hardly think you have any reason to be to laughing at all." Victor pulled his hood down and said, "You don't get it. No villain will ever understand what it means to have innocence, purity, and love. Not even you, the great Maleficent, could ever know the true power of love." Yet the dark witch just chuckled at this and replied, "Love? Hah. I don't need the likes of human emotion to defeat the likes of you. You my dear know nothing of love either. For if you did, you wouldn't be here fighting me over control of the worlds that you took over." Victor then ran up with his transparent sword as Maleficent raised her staff and created a wall of fire around the both of them, sealing any interference from intruders.

As Sora and the others arrived in the world, all they saw was a huge black fence blocking off the city streets to the left and right of them which resembled San Francisco to the left and New York to the right. Up ahead, the only building not blocked off was a giant Theatre which had posted up as a sign, "Welcome to the Fantasmic Musical Opera. We hope you enjoy your stay in this world as many have entered, but so very few have left this place." Tidus smugly said, "Yeah nice place isn't it? I wonder if they'll give us rat poison to wash down the garbage they'll serve us?" Mickey then shushed him and said, "I'd watch your tongue if I were you. This is no ordinary world. Like Sacred Hallows, it also fell to heartless attacks. Be wary you guys, I saw this in a dream once."

They headed inside to find a huge lobby with red carpeting and the walls as well as the front office was all made of gold. There were also posters on each of the four rooms in the area. The first one they saw was called "Arabian Nights" to their right, but was blocked off by wooden boards. Further up to their right again was another room with a poster called "Rite of Spring" also blocked off by wooden boards and to their left on the other side was a room called "Ursula's Revenge and Cruella de Vil's Business". The room next to it closer by the entrance across from "Arabian Nights" was called "The Haunted Mansion" blocked off by wooden boards. Up ahead past the front office was another room labeled "The Grand Ballroom".

Yet it was blocked off by two railway crossing guards on the left and right side. Sora tried walking up to the open play room, but a man in blue suit stopped him and asked for a ticket for him to enter. Sora then returned to the group and said, "Well now what? I see a guy in blue suit next to Ursula's Revenge and Cruella de Vil's Business and he says we need tickets to get in." Goofy then looked at the Grand Ballroom and said, "Maybe we can just go straight to the Grand Ballroom if were polite enough." Riku saw a man in a red suit inside the front office wearing a red hat holding twenty bucks in hand. Riku then said, "I'll go ask that guy in the booth if we can go." The group sat down on the complimentary benches they had outside of each play room and Riku went up and asked the man in the red suit, "Hey sir is there any way we can get into the Grand Ballroom. It's kind of important." The man then said, "Sorry kid. The only way to get into that room is by watching all of the plays that are happening in those four rooms. Once you see all four I'll let you in. In fact, since you seem like a nice guy I'm giving you and your friends tickets. How many of you are there?" Riku gave a thumbs up to the group saying that things were good with him and replied, "Eight." The man then said, "Eight huh. Eight by four… here you go. Thirty-two tickets." As he gave Riku the tickets, he then said, "I'd be careful if I were you. These theatres are a little dangerous. You could say it literally makes you seem like you were actually there." Riku said, "Okay. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."

They then left inside into Ursula's Revenge and Cruella de Vil's Business. As they entered inside, the entire place sort of resembled a movie theatre. Yet as they sat down and watched, it started to look more and more like Atlantica because the stage became filled with water and everyone got mermaid and merman outfits (Donald's and Goofy's outfits stayed the same as from KH 2) Ursula and Cruella de Vil (in a scuba outfit) also had Ariel being captured and thrown into a cage along with the Dalmatian puppies Sora got to know on his first adventure. The group drew out their weapons and Sora, Riku and the King transformed into their armoured forms. "Ooh I have waited a long time for this Sora. Now you'll get yours!!", Ursula sneered. "Sora…Help!!", Ariel cried with Flotsam and Jetsam watching her cage like nighthawks. "Don't forget about me your majesty. I have a bone to pick with you as well.", Cruella de Vil yelled. Mickey then replied, "How could I forget? You and I fought once before. In my dream so long ago. And I whopped you all good." Yet before the group could even say a thing, they heard some laughing in the background and then complete silence.

After a couple of minutes Ursula then grabbed Donald and smooshed him right against Yuffie and Cruella de Vil being agile enough kicked Riku right into Goofy. Sora managed to get a hit on Cruella de Vil with his keyblade (that's right he's also got his keyblade in hand if needed) and she dropped to the ground like an autumn falling off a tree. "Most impressive boy…" Cruella then transported herself behind him and kicked him to the ground as well. "Yet those moves don't win battles." "Indeed they don't." Out of the shadows of the theatre, came Darkness. As he walked up to the stage of the theatre and up to Cruella de Vil, Flotsam and Jetsam tried to attack him, but in futile efforts were sliced in half and got sucked into Darkness himself. Sora and the group got up and prepared for attack as they stared Darkness down and gave him an angry look. Ursula gasped and said, "You monster!! How dare you swallow my lackeys whole and slice them up like a turkey dinner." The dark being laughed and then said with his sinister voice, "You pitiful creature. Do you not know the true value of your life? You as well as your pathetic excuse for lackeys are nothing, but little pawns in my devious works. You are nothing but servants. Maleficent made that same mistake when trying to conquer me. Yet she also knew not the true essence of evil that stood before her."

Cruella de Vil attempted to punch him, but Darkness transported behind her and shoved his whole hand into her back. He then sucked her heart away as he did to Flotsam and Jetsam and she disappeared. "Odd the workings of the heart are. They can become good, pure, innocent, insidious, dark, evil. Yet you fools…" He then transported behind Ursula and touched her back with his right index finger. He continued, "…Always try to control me especially when you know you can't." Ursula disappeared and the theatre returned to normal as did everyone else. The only thing that remained was Ursula's heart which then got sucked away into Darkness. Sora then looked around noticing everything was normal and then asked, "So did that happen or am I dreaming?" Darkness then continued, "That was no dream boy. You all did witness Ariel and the puppies get trapped and thanks to my power, they are now back where they belong." Mickey then said, "I wouldn't bet on that. Your always up to your neck in tricks aren't ya Darkness? You probably sucked up their worlds too?" Darkness laughed yet again as Mickey stared into his yellow evil eyes. "You always seem to forget who's the most powerful? I of course did suck up their worlds. That's no lie. I even was the one who made Xehanort what he wanted to be. He was misunderstood. He was made fun of. I gave him power. In a sense, I was the one who created the heartless if you think about it." Sora then asked, "What are you talking about? How do you know about Xehanort?" Darkness then opened the doors by raising his index finger. "Follow me into the Rite of Spring and I shall explain everything from there."

The group then headed outside of the theatre room and noticed a barricade up saying "Closed for Repairs" and then noticed the Rite of Spring theatre open. As the group traveled inside, they noticed a bunch jellyfish and other fish in general swimming in a dark ocean and noticed one jellyfish eat another fish as the food chain would suggest. They then noticed the seats start to go higher and higher until they were five to ten feet off the ground. The sky was yellow and the entire row was covered in fog. They noticed that a bunch of cliffs appeared from underneath them and on the other side were more cliffs and below them was the sea itself. Tidus then said, "Well that's great. Now we got more water to deal with." Yuffie then said, "Quiet. I can't hear what's going on." The group then saw a pterodactyl fly down towards the water as well as a few others fly down as well. They noticed them fish for squid and other sea creatures and then they noticed a crocodile like creature pop from the water and grab the pterodactyl and drag him into the water.

Yuffie then said terrified, "I can't watch. This is too scary." Tidus then replied, "Me neither. These guys are scary enough as is in the movies." Sora then said, "Poor pterodactyl. All he wanted was some food and instead he gets swallowed whole." "Very deep, my friend. I have always known you to be more of a quiet thinker, but I never expected you to be so emotional." It was Darkness and he had another heart in hand. He raised it up and then said, "This is the Queen of Sacred Hallows. Or rather this is her heart. She tried attacking me when I first entered in this world. Yet she didn't stand a chance." The group then stood up and Sora said, "Ursula was right. You are a monster." Darkness chuckled and said, "How perceptive. Did you figure it all out by yourself? I meant what I said. I did make Xehanort evil. When I had Victor, my orders were to merge with him and his mind so that we could become one being and dominate the entire universe, but he refused. He thought that his pride and individuality mattered more so I then went after the very next closet being that had a power similar to that him. Xehanort had potential and thanks to him I created the heartless so I could take over this little universe. To save you all trouble, you have been fighting me this whole time and I keep taking on another form. I find it more amusing if I put your ideals on light to the test sometimes." He sucked the heart into himself as the group then found themselves in a primeval jungle with various dinosaurs, from the triceratops to the duck billed Anatotitans, around them eating plants and basking in the hot sun. Sora then said, "So you were the one who took Kairi then on both of my adventures against Organization XIII and against Maleficent. How could you? Why would you?" Darkness then said, "The light of those who are the purest are always in the form of a woman. For they are God's lambs and his pure essence. That's why. I needed Kairi because her heart was the key to unlocking Kingdom Hearts. If I conquered that, I would rule this universe and then challenge Victor over supremacy of his imaginative universe."

The group watched for a bit and then noticed Darkness start to disappear. Sora ran up and tried to attack him, but he disappeared into darkness (irony) and he replied, "We shall speak again in Arabian Nights." Sora then said, "You monster. You have nerve taking Kairi away from me." "This recent kidnapping is of the boy's accord. Not mine." As his voice dispersed, Sora then thought, 'So if Darkness didn't do it this time then it has to be Victor front and Centre. So much for him turning good all of a sudden.' As the group watched they noticed a stegosaurus waltz by grazing on what little vegetation was around him. Yuffie then said, "Man that thing is huge. I wonder how much he eats in year." The group then saw a group of brachiosaurs, Anatotitans, triceratops and other dinosaurs look out into the distance as it started to rain and near the horizon they saw the menace that was Tyrannosaurus Rex. He stomped down on the trees and crushed the ground around him trying to bite down on anything, from the pterodactyls flying around to the triceratops trying to flee the scene. The only one that was near the T-Rex was the stegosaurus which was a slow moving dinosaur and as soon as the T-Rex bit him on the tail a fight soon ensued.

Sora then thought, 'Go stegosaurus. I know you can do it!!' The others starting cheering the Stegosaurus on and then fight lasted a long time. He got hit in the face and the legs time and time again. That is until the T-Rex got a gripping bite on the creature's neck. Once he starting crushing it, the stegosaur fell to the ground with a sharp thud. The T-Rex then roared into the sky cheering his victory over his prey and the group then started to cry. Yuffie said, "No. How could that poor creature just die?" Tidus then sniffled and said, "I don't know. Yet I that T-R-ex is gonna pay." Sora then thought as a tear came to his eye, 'No. Poor thing. It didn't deserve that.' The group then heard a snap and soon enough the stegosaur was back on its feet and with a flash of light the T-Rex fell to the ground dead. As the group watched the near ending of the play they noticed it was starting to boil in the room. There were no trees and no jungles. Tidus then said, "Whew, is it me or did someone turn up the thermostat or something?" Riku then said trying to blow into his suit, "Yeah it does feel kinda stuffy in here." Mickey then said, "It's the environment. Every time a scene changes, the room changes to match the setting as well. Talk about getting sucked into the story." Instead it was all desert and dinosaurs started to die or get trapped in tar pits. As the near ending came a flash of light appeared and it was Victor in a hologram form saying, "Don't get too cocky. I only saved the creature's life simply because that T-Rex in real life would have a much greater fight on his hands than that." The hologram disappeared and then they headed out of "Rite of Spring" to notice another barricade with the same sign, "Closed for Repairs" yet again.

As they entered into Arabian Nights, the group then noticed out of the blue that they were in Agrabah again. Sora also noticed Jafar in his genie form and that he had Aladdin trapped within a wall of fire. Aladdin saw Sora and then yelled, "Sora!! Thank gosh you're here. Jafar showed up out of the blue and started wrecking things all over the place. He's got Jasmine and I can't get out." Sora then replied, "No worries Aladdin. We'll take care of Jafar." "Are you sure about that?", Jafar asked as he snapped his fingers. Before the group could do anything they too were stuck in a wall of fire. Riku then added while punching Sora in the shoulder, "You were saying." Then a dark shadow appeared and Darkness formed once more. Jafar stared at the foe in front of him and said, "I've heard of you. You're Darkness. The one creature who has controlled us since the beginning of time. You made us turn evil and then get killed or destroyed by the likes of a bunch of children." Darkness laughed and then said, "I never did anything of the sort. You Jafar sought out power to rule Agrabah and that was me tempting you. That's all I did was tempt you, you on the other hand chose your path and your fate along with the rest of the Disney Villains before you. Even the T-Rex in Rite of Spring chose it's path as a predator to hunt. For you see everything has a choice of what is supposedly right or wrong." Darkness then appeared behind Jafar and then snatched his heart away. With that Jafar disappeared and the entire play ended in a millisecond.

Sora and the others then ran up to Darkness and then Sora asked, "Why? Why do you do these things then? If you say everything has a choice in the matter, then why do you choose to do evil things? Don't you care about those innocent people that you hurt?" Darkness began growing an aura around himself and then said, "I could care less Sora. Asking that kind of question to me is like asking why magic is mysterious. That's the purpose of my entire being. I am Darkness, the very evil that haunts your fears, your anger, your sorrow. I am all things that has become evil incarnate. Because of me, many have suffered, died or worse have been tortured physically or mentally for years. I on the other hand didn't choose my role in this universe. The almighty Pyros (Satan) created me to conquer Victor and everything around him so that he could challenge the "Almighty One" and when I couldn't even take that boy's mind I decided to find other suitable hosts to take over. Some like Xehanort were easier to conquer than others." Darkness then disappeared again and he didn't need to tell them where to go next.

As they Left Arabian Nights, they then noticed another barricade with a sign saying, "Closed for Repairs". The group noticed many heartless both black and white appear and then they started to attack each other. Riku then said, "I guess that clears the division up then. Victor is fighting against Maleficent and he's made his own version of heartless to attack the originals themselves." Sora nodded and then Mickey said, "Regardless, I suggest that we use this distraction as our ticket to the last and final playroom. Once we're done there we can head into the Grand Ballroom. Got it?" They all nodded and then they headed inside the now open "Haunted Mansion".

As they travelled inside they noticed that entire theatre was covered in fog and there were only two dead trees, a graveyard, a full moon and a mansion at the top of a hill. As the group went up to it and went inside, the room started to spin. As it did they saw heartless appear and Hades made his grand entrance as well. "Well well well. If it isn't the little bugger and his pals all cozened up before I get rid of you. I hope you you're all comfortable because you won't like the Underworld one bit." Yet again though, Sora and the others watched as Hades got his own heart sucked out by Darkness and the heartless got sucked into him as well. "Such ignorance. I can't believe you all are even a threat to Maleficent or Victor either. You have no chance against power like ours." Sora and the others then noticed the ground change to that of a column and on that column was Belle with yellow shading. Sora then got a strain of déjà vu and Darkness whispered into his ear, "Remember Sora. Remember this place? This is where I first met you. As the very thing that took your beloved Riku away the very beast that you faced for the first time ever in your life." (If everyone remembers, there is that point in KH 1 at the beginning where he fights the darkness in a dream but it isn't quite explained and he just wakes up and acts like nothing happened) Sora then remembered facing him and the heartless all those years ago.

Sora then remembered the voice that told him not to fear the darkness and to always stay true to himself to overcome it. It was Victor all along telling him and warning him of the greater evil yet to come. Sora then fell to his knees and the group responded gathering around him and Sora said, "I can't believe it. You were the one who did this to us. You were the one who separated Riku and myself as well as Kairi. You made Ansem do the experiments on the heart as well didn't you?" Darkness snidely replied, "He was curious about the workings of it. I only gave him the insight he needed in a dream much like yours. I tempted him. I told him of great authority he could be if he did as I told him. In fact you faced me once again with your friends Donald and Goofy. Remember the Chernabog?" Sora, Donald and Goofy then recalled themselves fighting the Chernabog on the place where worlds that were taken over by the heartless ceased to be.

Darkness continued, "That was me as well. Henceforth why he isn't here. I got him two minutes before you even entered this world. His heart technically is a piece of my heart and I just put it back in my heart." Sora then asked, "You have a heart as well?" Darkness replied, "All things that breathe or live have a heart. Trees have heartwood essentially their life force. Animals and people have them as well. I am no different because I too was created from the same substance you humans were created by from the "Almighty One". I was mixed with dust and the jealousy of my master. I simply have a heart to use it for evil purposes. That's the only way I could have infiltrated Victor and take on a host. Without a heart I would just be a spirit often gone unnoticed by the world around me." Sora then said, "It all is starting to make sense now. So you were once here then even before Victor found out about this place then?" Darkness then said, "Go to the Grand Ballroom. We'll finish our chat there." He then disappeared and the playroom returned to normal. The group left the playroom to notice that another barricade appeared with a sign saying, "Closed for Repairs". As they entered the Grand Ballroom, they noticed it was covered in golden drapes and even the tables, chairs and other fine piece ornaments were all covered in gold as well as the floor was golden.

The group then noticed Maleficent fighting Victor in her dragon form and then Sora and the others began to fight Maleficent. A barrier arrived and blocked off a majority of the group except Victor, Sora, Riku, Mickey and Maleficent herself in this final fight of fights. Sora ran up and attacked her legs, and as she breathed fire Sora noticed that a golden shield in the shape of a circle appeared and deflected it. It had the symbol of the sun on it at the centre of it. Riku then said, "Nice. We get matching shields too." Riku then charged towards Maleficent as did Mickey and they summoned shields as well. Riku's was in the shape of an octagon, black in colour and the symbol of the moon on it at its centre. Mickey's was brown in colour, in the shape of a hexagon and had the symbol of a cloud on it at its centre. The group then rushed in together doing combined attacks, changing from Rainan to Ankyronox to Tikylo and started to inflict a serious amount of scratches on Maleficent's body. She started to catch on while fighting Victor and then whacked Sora, Riku and Mickey with her tail and arms and wings. The group did have a good advantage at first with the shields though. Thanks to them even when they were seriously injured they could simply hide behind the shields while they healed for a bit of time and then go on the offensive again. Maleficent then caught on to that as well.

Maleficent blew away each of the shields with ease after a few attacks made by Riku and Sora and then Victor charged up and slashed at her fire breathing with his transparent sword. Meanwhile Sora and Riku tried attacking her from behind and kept back shuffling her tail while Mickey sliced her stomach up. Maleficent felt this pain and whacked Mickey away into the barrier. She then bit Riku hard on his suit which made him deform and then he got knocked into Sora which then made him deform as well. Mickey then charged again and tried attacking her tail, while Victor kept rushing towards Maleficent at the front. Sora then asked, "When did she get so powerful? I thought I beat her with ease the last time we met her." Riku then added, "Don't forget she tried using Darkness to fight her battles. He didn't want to get used like a toy and that's how she lost. She's using her own power now." The group then saw something black auraed strike at Maleficent's body.

Maleficent then noticed a sword stuck inside her neck and she then collapsed and became nothingness itself. The only thing that did remain was her heart. Yet even that got sucked away by Darkness. Sora then said, "Darkness. I understand now. You did this on purpose to get to me didn't you?" He nodded and then Sora asked, "But why me?" Darkness then replied, "Initially Riku as you know was chosen to be the keyblade's wielder. Yet I planned to capture you and use you because you were a pure soul at heart. Any pure soul taken by darkness is usually the easiest to manipulate and use to their advantage. Yet when Riku became interested in my power I decided to use him instead so I could get to you eventually. I didn't plan on the bond of your friendship being so intact though and that posed a problem time and time again."

Riku then said, "So you're the reason my heart went astray and why I had Xehanort's heartless within me all that time." Darkness then continued, "Like I said, I used you to get to Sora. Yet your concern and friendship always posed a problem and I had to separate the two of you. That's why I had Xehanort create Organization XIII and that's where Namine came in. She erased all thoughts of you from Sora so I could eventually take him over." Sora then added, "Now wait just a minute. Organization XIII had their own reasons for the heartless and technically took over the worlds on their own as Namine was acting of her own free will. How do you fit into that?" Darkness continued, "Xehanort became stubborn like Victor and decided to rebel. I figured if that were the case, I would use you to get back at him and to challenge Victor himself. Both of you have pure hearts and it would be about an even match, excluding my power. However I couldn't take you because you became a heartless. When that happened, I couldn't take hold of you. I can only take a host as well if they are a complete being. I took over Xehanort for a short time and then when he used the heart to do his own wishes he had a heartless and a nobody which prevented any future control over him, which is why we met in that dream of yours long ago Sora."

The room then became dark and Victor then said, "Looks like this world belongs to you now, doesn't it Darkness?" Darkness nodded and then said, "If you want it, you'll have to take it from me." Victor tackled Darkness and then they disappeared into a blinding light. The group raced for the gateway and then barely escaped with their lives. They noticed as they went out a piece of Anastasia's section popped out and it morphed with the page to become Section # 14. They then began to read to see what information it held about Victor and possibly Darkness.


	37. Chapter 36: Back to Destiny Island

**Back to Destiny Island**

As the group got back from the "Fantasmic Musical Opera" they were tending to wounds that they picked up along the way from returning. **'**As they ran from the Grand Ballroom, Riku noticed that a giant piece of the theatre collapsed right in front of the room and said, "We'd better move those feet. This place is coming down!!" As the group ran for the exit just running past the front office, they noticed a huge wall of fire blocking the exit. Donald then said, "A wall of fire. That's just great. Now what do we do?" Sora stared at the brick pavement and noticed a crack in one of them and said, "We'll dig our way out. See that crack over there." The group noticed Sora pointing at it. "We can lift the brick up and dig our way out." Riku gave Sora a knuckle sandwich and said, "Way to think outside the box there Sora."

Mickey then said, "First things first Riku. Before we celebrate let's get the heck outta here." The group dug as fast as they could and when they reached the outside of the theatre, they noticed the entire theatre had collapsed. Sora then said, "Well glad that's over." Mickey looked at the sky and noticed the entire area was dark all around. He then said, "Not quite Sora. We still haven't gotten to Sanshobi yet and Darkness claimed this world as his own." Sora asked, "How can you tell?" Mickey pointed to the sky where big thick dark clouds had started to form. They also glowed yellow auras as a sign of pure evil and fear.

"Any time a world was ever consumed by darkness, a cloud just like that would be the first thing to appear. Then the inhabitants would disappear and in their place dark beings would live off the land sucking away all the light from it. The last step is that the world would rot and turn to dust having all of the energy sucked right out of it." The group sighed and then left the world to discuss their next plan.**'**The group then began to read the latest and last page to Anastasia's journal.

"Section Fourteen: Power Incarnate

I didn't know at first, but Victor had started to change a year later after we beat Airaras. Last night, he started to act a little weird over the Sacred Protection itself. I asked him how he knew about it and he replied saying that Dad had appeared to him and started asking him about me and what I had been up to. Victor said that I had been same old same old. Nice guy, he always knew how to make me sound good in a conversation. Anyways, Victor was then asked by Dad if he really loved me. Victor said that I meant everything in the world to him. Victor was then told by my father that he had to do whatever he could to protect me. No matter what he had to be a hero despite all that could and would stand against him. Victor was told of a secret about the Sacred Protection. I asked him about it and he changed the subject. I then suspected it was the same kind of reaction I got from my father a few years ago. When he asked me if I loved Victor and I said yes, he started to cry. Victor also looked like he was going to cry as well because I saw a tear start to form in his right eye.

The poor boy. I wish I knew what troubled him that night. I then looked at a page that I found in Victor's jeans as I was going to iron and press them for wrinkles. Victor was asleep at the time and I figured I wouldn't bother him about it too much. I saw a giant triangular column on it and it split into three smaller ones: one in the middle that was the tallest, one on the left which was the second highest and one on the right which was the lowest.

The one on the right was coloured brown and was entitled the Sword of Balance. The one on the left was coloured white and was entitled the Sword of Light. The one in the centre was coloured black and entitled the Sword of Darkness. Under each of the entitled columns was a tiny bit of info on them as well. The Sword of Darkness could only be held by someone with leadership and courage as well as anger which were necessary to feed it. The Sword of Light could only be held by someone who was pure at heart, kind, and reliable. The Sword of Balance could only be held by someone who was powerful, loyal, and was impervious to doubt or qualm (that word means uncertainty to those new to the word).

Victor also mentioned that the wielders of the swords could not only become armoured by the very swords they held by harnessing the Sacred Protection, they could also morph with others (depending on their strength) to become even stronger. To become champions, they had to morph with someone who they didn't know, to become ultimate it had to be someone who was close to them either by blood or friendship also wielding the swords themselves, and to become mega meant to have all three of the swords together as well as the wielders morphing together. It took a lot of energy, but it the end was all, but worth it for defeating such enemies when the time was right. Victor eventually did wake up and I started asking him about it and he just said that it was some sort of legend. His brothers as well as himself didn't know if they were real or not and Victor finished by saying if they were that they could be very valuable if they were in the right hands.

Victor took off saying he had some errands to run and I just sat down thinking about all that I had learned about him in the past few years. I couldn't believe that someone with such a terrible childhood at the beginning of life could end up living so well in a city so big and then go worldwide on his own learning about the world around him and then eventually along with his brothers become the most powerful beings in less than a few years before his older brother turned fifteen. It truly is a big accomplishment on their part and I can only hope that this new power can help them get stronger and bond well together.

I'll never understand what makes Victor and his brothers fight they way they do with other villains. Maybe it's their destiny to be hated by those of jealousy or envy, or maybe it's the cologne they wear. Lol. That can't be it even if it were remotely true. Either way I end this by saying that the mega level can only be activated by three main verses: From the sky shall rain three fireballs glowing red, blue and yellow, A green auraed triangle will glow and soon enough nine statues will appear and enclose the three warriors that wield the swords, from that a miracle will happen that will pose a great threat to all that challenge the light."

Mickey read the last sentence and said, "Looks like we're those guys in the page fellas." Riku then said, "Yeah I guess so. It says it right there. Man I can't believe it. Looks like Victor's theory on fate came true after all. I mean we each individually wield these swords for the first time and we become fighting knights, we morph, we other people, each other and now this. We all now have to morph together." The page flew on out of Riku's hands and it turned into a hooded figure all on his own. He pulled down his hood to reveal a man who looked like Xaldin, but he had three stripes going across his cheeks vertically. He was five foot eleven and he took out a weapon that looked like a staff. It was over five feet tall and was orange from top to bottom. It curved near the top and at the centre of the curve was a yellow orb. It contained over nine thousand volts of electricity. He then began speaking with an Aboriginal accent, "So finally I get to meet the great Sora, Riku and King Mickey himself. How interesting. It's no wonder the master created me. You all look really powerful." Sora then said, "What is Victor planning to do with all the people he's captured."

The Aboriginal accented man then said, "There's no point in telling you boy. He's already captured Valadain and it will take him no more no less than five to six hours to complete. Once he's done, you and the rest of the universe you so tried to save will fall. Before we continue though allow me to introduce myself. I am Reylt, anagram named after Victor's friend Tyler. I am here for one reason only and that is to eliminate you all before you can become a thorn in my master's side anymore." Sora then looked at Riku and back at him and asked, "What if we refuse?" Reylt then said, "I hope you are ready for some pain my child. Because my staff here is filled with enough electricity to barbeque your brain and destroy your liver. If you don't believe me…"

Reylt snapped his fingers and the gate at the north lost its barrier as well as the gates to the south lost its barrier. "Fight me in Destiny Island. We'll see who has the last laugh." He headed inside the gate at the centre which as they saw had an island as the symbol for the gate and it closed straight behind him. The group then noticed the barriers then came up again at the gates to the north and to the south and Sora said, "Nowhere to go, but straight I guess." They all nodded and then headed inside the gate into Destiny Island.

Sora looked around as did the entire group and they saw that Destiny Island was covered in purple clouds and the island looked like it was rotting. The beaches were black and brown, the vegetation was turning grey and falling apart and even the water was purple and smelled like garbage. Sora then said, "Oh no. Not home too." Riku then said, "I'm afraid so Sora. It looks like Victor conquered this place as well." Sora asked Riku how he knew and he pointed in the direction Sora was facing: east. The group then looked eastward and saw a black hooded figure awaiting them at the very edge of the island itself. He took out his staff and charges started emulating from the orb itself. The island got raised so high that from the edge of the beach was a huge searing five hundred foot drop cliff. The group then readied their weapons as they stared down the newest member of Victor's hooded entourage.


	38. Chapter 37: Wherever the Wind Takes Us

**Wherever the Wind Takes Us**

Sora and the group charged into fighting Reylt, but he tapped his staff into the ground and produced an earthquake so big even the island started to break. The group didn't try to run, but instead tried huddling together so they could stand up against the strong earth current. Reylt then said, "You foolish children. You have no idea who you're dealing with do you?" Riku then said, "I swear I am getting tired of people saying stuff like that. We know who we're dealing with pal and I swear that we're gonna make you guys regret ever messing with us in the first place. Do you hear me punk?" Reylt laughed and said, "You my white haired boy are quick to anger. Are you not? Always you are constantly trying to fight me with words. Then do it through your actions." Riku transformed into his armoured self and slashed a piece of Reylt's hair off.

"Hmmmm…pretty quick on your feet I see. Yet slicing some hair off…" Reylt moved behind Riku and kicked him to the ground hard and continued, "…won't cut it mister." Sora then tried to slash his chest, but Reylt kept backshuffling and soon he caught the keyblade and threw Sora towards the sandy ground. He then said, "You children will never learn." He picked Sora up and threw him to the ground hard and then stomped on his back three times. Sora tried to get up, barely having any strength, yet he managed and scraped the tiny bit of blood on his left side of his upper lip. He then said, "You're a coward Reylt. You have no honour and don't deserve to call yourself a human being. Heck, your not even human at all so you don't even deserve to exist, if all you crave is destruction." Reylt then said, "I don't just crave destruction…I also crave blood and sorrow. It is in my genes as Victor has created me to be. I am the most agile of fourteen members and the fastest. You are no match for me."

Sora kept on slashing at his staff, but to no avail. The tyrant just shocked Sora and threw him back towards Yuffie and Tidus. Mickey and Riku tried to combine their attacks on Reylt but his staff just shocked them and sent them flying in all directions. Sora then transformed into his armoured self and then tried slashing at Reylt's staff, but Reylt kicked Sora and he went flying off the cliff. Riku yelled, "No Sora!!" tears starting forming at Riku's eyelids and Reylt laughed and said, "Oh boo hoo. You are weak. Any time you show compassion for those around you it shows me you are not a true fighter. You my fallen friend are a washed up little pack of deer droppings!!" Riku then tried punching Reylt, but he caught it in a split second and kicked Riku in the stomach ten times.

Mickey then tried to attack Reylt and succeeded and sliced a piece of the suit off around his chest. Reylt said, "Very good mouse. Yet that is just my clothing. I could go on like this for hours on end." Reylt picked Mickey up at his head as well as Riku and rammed them into each other. Blood started to drip from their heads and the group thought that all would be lost. Reylt then said with anger in his voice, "The duck and the dog are next. You two will enjoy the pleasure of knowing that they died heroes." Yuffie started to cry as did the rest of the group as Reylt picked Goofy and Donald up and prepared to kill them off as well. Yet in the middle of the sky, three fireballs appeared: one was red, one was blue and one was yellow. The yellow one went to Mickey and restored him, the blue went to Riku which restored him and the yellow one went to Sora who was holding on to the edge of the cliff and managed to pull himself up. Reylt said, "Impossible. I got rid of the three of you. You shouldn't be alive. You shouldn't even be standing period."

Then they came together, Tidus and Yuffie and everyone else crying that they were alive. A green triangle formed around them and Sora went to the left side and Riku went to the right side while Mickey went to the top corner. The triangle began to glow and nine statues appeared out of nowhere with three each circling each of the keyblade users and soon a red, blue and green light went straight into the sky and then they converged in the centre and soon enough all three of them together. From all three of those warriors came one lone fighter. As the group stared in awe at the new warrior covered in smoke, Reylt said, "Even a transformation won't do you good. I shall defeat you. You'll see." Yet even one tiny flick from this new warrior sent him flying across the entire island. As the smoke itself cleared, the warrior was revealed to be six feet tall on the margin, had a combination of gold brown and black armour, all three of the Swords of Light, Darkness, and Balance converged to make a single sword which was grey, as big as a wolf and as long as a car.

The warrior then said with unison of Sora, Riku and Mickey's voices, "Silence!! Reylt you have caused us enough trouble. Now tell us about Victor and his plans or else." Reylt asked while trying to get up, "Or else what?" "Or else this will happen." Reylt got punched in the face and his staff was slashed by the giant grey sword and turned into dust. Reylt then got thrown about on the island, his stomach was punched and brutally injured as he had done to Riku and what's more his body was bleeding from the groin upward. He then stabbed Reylt in the neck and then he said, "You'd better tell us all you know about Victor. Otherwise you won't get to die willingly." Reylt laughed some more and then giant warrior asked, "What's so funny?" Reylt then continued, "You foolish children will never learn. Kill one us or kill all of us. It doesn't matter, so long as the master finishes his master plan. Thanks to you fighting me we have killed an hour and a half. By the time you reach Sanshobi it will be too late." He then pointed into the sky to which a projection of the floating island with all the gates they went in was seen. Up in the sky was another island with two gates on it.

He then pointed to the island above the island with all the other gates. "That is where Sanshobi is. Don't be fooled though. You need to open a bridge to get up there and you need three special things to do it though." The warrior asked, "Yeah what's that?" Reylt then said, "You need the sword of Genghis Khan, a shark's tooth, and you need a cyborg's arm. Only then will it open the bridge to the island above." Reylt then died and turned into dust. From his ashes was revealed section # 14. Donald then asked as Jiminy Cricket grabbed the page, "So what are we going to call you?" The giant warrior scratched the back of his neck and asked, "Super Kid?" they shook their heads. "Infinity Man?" they shook their heads again. "Okay, how about Omega?" The group then nodded in agreement as he changed back into Sora, Riku and Mickey. Sora then asked noticing that Destiny Island wasn't turning back to normal, "Hey what gives? I thought if we defeated the bad guy things get turned back to normal. What gives?" Mickey shook his head and said, "I don't see any dark rings around here. I guess that means the inhabitants are gone or are in hiding." Sora was getting worried. He then said, "So are they just going to stay like this forever?" Mickey shook his head. "I don't know Sora. Victor has just recently been changing his outlook on the situation and who knows what he's planned next."

The group then headed out the door and headed back down to Merlin's house. After the group explained the situation to Leon and Merlin, Leon then said, "Well that one just got blown out of the water. Now we got an even greater power yet to be classified." Merlin nodded and said, "I do find it a little ironic that Sora, Riku and the King are the ones receiving the new powers. It seems that anytime they help someone, they either get stronger or become quicker or cunning." Leon nodded and said, "Regardless they have been chosen by fate, as Victor has described it. Now Merlin it's time we move on and classify some more of this data." They then left and in their place Kazuya appeared and said, "I remember when Victor got this powerful before. It was an omen I should've seen coming." Sora then asked, "When was that?" Kazuya then said, "It was when he was about your age Sora. He technically is three years older than you, either way when he was your age he got even more powerful than anyone imagined. First he started learning more about what villainy was like. Next he learned new techniques on how to become like that. I even remember him telling me he stayed in Cuba for a short amount of time training his heart out there whenever he could."

Sora then asked, "So what happened?" Kazuya then said, "Well his brothers united together and together they defeated me, his older brother's clone and Bowser from conquering their planet and destroying all life as they knew it on their home. Yet at a price, they were transported throughout the universe and they lost their memory of who they were. They declared themselves the MVC when fighting us for no more than a year and they already forgot who they were." Sora then asked, "The MVC?" Kazuya then said, "It's their first initials of their names: Michael, Victor and Christopher. They are their own private super heroes league, while at the same time act like a corporation as well. I'd best be careful when going up against Victor. He's one tough kid." With that Kazuya opened the door and closed it tight behind him. Kazuya then opened the door again and said, "Oh and one more thing. When you guys do fight Victor, make sure you let him come to you instead of you going to him. He can trick you like that too easily." Sora then said, "Thank you. We'll keep that in mind. See ya." Kazuya said, "Yeah see ya." And once again he shut the door behind him without even the tiniest bit of sound echoing from it. The group heard someone call out Sora's name and turned around to see who it was.

The group then noticed Anastasia appeared and then she hugged Sora with all of her might. "Oh thank gosh you're all alright. We were all worried about you guys." As she let go, Riku then said, "Good to see we were cared about on our travels. So did anything happen while we were gone?" Anastasia shook her head. "Although I do suspect something is going on at the old castle. Some clouds appeared while you guys were gone and heartless appeared all over the place about twenty minutes ago and we could barely keep them all back. They weren't black either they were white and had red eyes. They were also more powerful than the original ones as well. We were wondering if you guys would ever come back to help us out. Then in the blink of an eye they all turned to dust." The group talked about this for about five minutes and then they stared back at Anastasia.

Sora and the others then explained to Anastasia about Reylt and how they transformed into Omega and defeated him. Anastasia then said, "So that page was right about the Eternal Beyond. It truly does exist. The due fact you reached that power proves it. This means…" Mickey then said, "Which means we must be leaving. We have a responsibility Anastasia. I'd hate to leave so soon, but we have business to take care of yet." Anastasia nodded and said, "I understand your Majesty. I know that it will be hard having to see Victor get hurt like this, but if it must be done, it must be done. Do what you have to do then."

The group then left outside the door and Tidus then said, "Looks like the fun never stops does it?" Riku then said, "You said it Tidus. We got some big things we have to take care of if we hope on defeating Victor at his own game." Mickey then said, "Easier said than done. You faced him before Riku and that was when like you said before was when you were in Xehanort's heartless form. If you couldn't beat him like that, I can't imagine how powerful Victor has been getting over the past little while." The group agreed and then headed off for the transporter. The group then left for the island where all the gates were now open, including the ones that were locked up again when Reylt went through into Destiny Island. Sora then asked, "So which one do you guys prefer to go into? Do we go North or do we go South?" Riku then took out a quarter and said, "Heads we go North, Tails we go South." He flipped the coin and soon enough it landed on the moose. "Tails it is then." Riku and the rest of the group headed to the far southern gate at the edge of the island. As they reached the gate, they noticed it had a volcano for a symbol and then they ran into the gate quickly and determined.

Meanwhile, back on the top floor of Castle Oblivion, Victor and his crew were working non-stop to reclaim the worlds that Maleficent or Darkness claimed over the past few days. Victor then said, "Kered what's the status report." Kered said, "Good news is we have reclaimed ninety five percent of all the worlds that were lost my lord." Victor then asked, "And the bad news?" Kered then continued, "Unfortunately, those kids went to mega level of their transformation."

Victor then asked, "What? Are you joking me? How did they do it? They didn't have anything special? When my brothers and I did it we needed to give each other our strength to pull it off. Mickey and Riku were dead. How's that possible?" Kered then said, "You did say that fate is very tricky sometimes." Victor sarcastically said, "Fate schmate. They did it and trust me Kered, like Ceir, you're starting to go on a loose thread. It's not by much, but still, I would watch my back if I were you." Victor then disappeared into light and Kered then said, "Oh don't worry my lord. Ehalcim will see to it that they don't figure out anymore tricks about their mega level." As he said this, he disappeared into a dark portal and the room was once again left in utter silence and darkness.


	39. Chapter 38: Hawaii

**Hawaii**

The group soon found themselves in along a coastal beach, but it wasn't like Coral Galleon at all. It much hotter that was a fact, the trees were more tropical than it as well, and there were barely any clouds on this world at all. It was a serene paradise and calm too. In the distance coming from the trees was a blue looking koala and a little girl in a yellow dress who looked Hawaiian. "Oh Stitch I can't keep my eyes off of you for one sec…" The girl stared at the group and Stitch just tackled Sora and started to lick him. Sora chuckled and said, "Hey stop that. That tickles." Riku knelt down and then said in a calm voice, "It's okay we won't hurt you. What's your name?" The girl said, "It's Lilo and that little guy licking your friend is Stitch. What's yours?" Riku then said, "Well, I'm Riku, the guy getting licked by Stitch is Sora, that's Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Tidus, Yuffie and the little guy walking towards you is Jiminy Cricket." The little cricket jumped onto her shoulder and said, "Pleased to meet you. Are you lost?" Lilo then said, "I'm not lost we're just exploring a little around here for a bit that's all." The group then asked Lilo if she saw anything unusual going on their world.

She said that she did see a hooded man pass by threw ten black rings into the sky and they randomly flew off in all directions. She then said that she saw him disappear into a dark portal. Riku then asked Lilo if she knew where the rings went. She then took them all over the island, but to no luck at all. They ran short finding any leads. They then went into the peaceful town up ahead and in the centre of crowds of people was a hooded man talking into his communicator. Mickey then heard him say something specific and said, "Quiet down you guys. He's right there in the middle of town. If he hears us, there goes our chance for information." They listened closely and it apparently was Ehalcim talking to Victor.

"So then how are the cronies coming along then Ehalcim? Have you even dispatched the rings yet even?", Victor asked. Ehalcim then said, "Oh yes my lord. If anything I have ten good recruits for you to do your bidding on." Victor then replied, "Excellent. That makes my work load much easier. Now listen closely to my next instructions. I want you to take care of this world nice and slow. We need to get Darkness off our trail and quick before he goes on the offensive again." Ehalcim then remarked, "I never knew he would come back for second helpings from you." Victor then said, "Yeah well Darkness was always the greatest foe by far I have ever met. Even the very first villain I fought wasn't even close to his stature. That's not the point though. Just make sure that if Sora and his group do arrive that you don't take too long to settle things with them. I am a very busy kid. I got things to do, places to conquer and people to enslave yet." Ehalcim then replied, "I understand my lord." With that the communicator was shut off and then the group recapped on what they just heard as Ehalcim disappeared into a dark portal.

Riku said, "Looks like we got a lot of work to do here." Mickey then said, "On the plus side, it appears that Victor hasn't yet conquered this place so we're in the clear as is for stopping him cold. Finding those rings though won't be easy. Even when Lilo guided us across the entire island we didn't find anything." Lilo then said looking at the sun go down, "It's getting late. We should get some rest and search in the morning. You guys can stay over with us." Sora and the others nodded and walked off with Lilo to their house. Before they could leave the towns square though, they saw a fat dark purple alien with four eyes wearing a tacky red and yellow Hawaiian shirt as well as a yellow one-eyed alien wearing women's clothing walking down to meet them. Lilo then said, "Hey Jumba, Pleakley. What are you guys doing here?" Jumba's eyes as well as Pleakley's eyes were so red they looked like they ate some hot peppers. Jumba then said, "Must…destroy…Stitch." Lilo then asked, "Jumba, are you feeling okay?"

Sora readied his keyblade as did the group ready their weapons as they noticed the rings around their necks. Mickey then jumped and grabbed Lilo as she said, "Please don't hurt them. They're my 'ohana'. They're my family." Sora smiled and said, "Relax. We'll take care of things from here." Sora tackled Pleakley and removed the ring without a moment's hesitation. He then stomped on it and it broke into a million pieces. Riku then tackled Jumba and sliced the ring in half with his keyblade. Jumba shook his head and then saw Lilo and said, "Oh little girl, my head hurts. What are we doing here? The last thing I remember was clothes shopping for Pleakley." Lilo then said, "It's a long story. We'll tell you on the way home." As the group headed on their way home across the vast jungles of the island, they saw another koala looking animal like Stitch except he was yellow with a few natural brown spots. Lilo then said, "Reuben. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Gantu up in the Galactic Alliance by now?"

Reuben had the same look in his eyes and then attacked Jumba. Sora tried capturing Reuben, but although he looked sluggish, kicked Sora hard and used his agility to tackle Sora to the ground. Jumba then noticed a red slim looking dog, with red eyes and a black ring around his neck and then said, "Oh no. Even experiment 627 is loose. What else could go wrong?" The group then saw a black ninja appear with nun chucks and he also had a black ring around his neck with the same look in his eyes. Mickey ran after the ninja and then the ninja tackled Mickey and took him into the ocean below. Riku held off 627 and then transformed into his armoured self and hit 627 in the chest a few times, then tripped him up, moved left and right five times and slashed the ring around his neck. 627 still kept on attacking Riku and he asked while holding the creature above his head, "What gives? The ring is gone. Why is he attacking me?" Jumba then said, "That is experiment 627. He is pure evil my boy." Riku then said, "Now you tell me."

Jumba then said, "Make him laugh. Then I'll put him in this machine here." Jumba pulled out a machine labeled de-activator and then Riku started to tickle the little creature. As he did, Jumba popped him into the machine and he was reverted back to normal as a tiny circular pod. Sora then transformed into his armoured self and took out the ring on Reuben as he returned to normal as well. Mickey then surfaced in his armoured suit and said, "Well what do you know? That ninja was just a manikin. Looks like Victor's going to have to do better than that if he hopes to beat us." "How about this then?", said a dark hooded figure in an Italian accent. Two more dark rings appeared around Stitch's neck and Lilo's neck. Sora then said, "You're next buddy. Guaranteed your next." He then disappeared into a dark portal and from it two more controlled manikins came out: one was a purple clown with a dark ring around his neck and the other was a magician with a dark ring around his neck. Sora tackled the clown, but he had wrapped up Sora in a tight white blanket and it was electrified. Sora got brutally shocked, meanwhile Riku went after the Magician and tried attacking his chest. Yet the magician cast a spell on him, and then attacked him much like Ohsj did back in the "King's Desert".

Mickey held off Stitch, even though he kept biting the suit and scratching his helmet and face. Stitch wrecked the suit so bad it looked like a raccoon attacked poor Mickey. Tidus got punched by Lilo, but oddly enough grabbed the ring and threw it to Donald who just whacked it with his staff and it turned to dust. Lilo then came to her senses and then tackled Stitch and tried to get him to come to his senses. Mickey then grabbed the ring and sliced it in half. Mickey and Stitch morphed together to become Tiran with blue shoulder pads, elbow pads, etc. and then took off the rings on both the clown manikin and the magician manikin. Sora and Riku sliced them both in half and the rings dissipated into nothingness. Tiran then de-morphed into Mickey and Stitch and headed on off for Lilo's house. When they did arrive, the group noticed that Lilo's house was a calm looking beach cottage, complete with a wooden deck, clean stairway and a classic laundry line being tied to two palm trees to dry off the wet clothes.

As the group started to celebrate by having a party, Sora noticed Riku and Mickey looking a little bummed out staring at the sea from the wooden deck of the cottage. Sora then went to them and asked, "Why the long faces? We just beat those guys at their own game." Riku then said, "Not all the rings have been found yet. Jumba and Pleakley had one each. Then there was Reuben, three manikins: a clown, a magician and a ninja, experiment 627 as Jumba called him who was already evil, Lilo and Stitch." Sora then smugly said, "Yeah so?" Mickey then said, "There's still one left Sora. We shouldn't even be celebrating yet." "Indeed you shouldn't." On the deck, the group then came out to see what the commotion was and they noticed a grey, buff looking whale like alien in a black suit holding a yellow laser gun in his left hand. His eyes were red and he had a black ring around his neck.

Stitch then saw him and said, "Gantu. Gonaba gonata crista?" Tidus asked, "What'd he say?" Lilo then said, "Gantu. What are you doing here?" Gantu then said, "I am here to take the boy there with me." He pointed to Sora and he said, "Not on your life buddy." Sora then went after Gantu and then a barrier appeared behind him and Riku blocking off any outside help from anyone. Then a black hooded figure appeared and took out his Zanbato and blocked Riku before he could assist Sora. He then said, "You and I have a score to settle first. Your friend fights alone this time." Riku then said, "I wouldn't have it any other way." Sora and Riku transformed into their armoured suits and then another barrier appeared cutting off Riku and Sora from each other.

Sora kicked Gantu, but Gantu didn't flinch and grabbed Sora and began to crush his suit and his body. Sora screamed as loud as he could and Gantu then said, "The more you squirm, the more painful it gets." Gantu threw Sora to the ground, kicked him and smashed him into the wooden railing as well. Meanwhile, Riku took out his Sword of Darkness and managed to slice off a piece of the hood revealing the short brunette haired man Riku fought before. Yet the behemoth hit Riku's sword with his Zanbato and it blew him twenty feet away from him. Riku then collapsed and then thought, 'Oh no. My body has gone numb. I can't move.' Ehalcim grabbed Riku and smashed him into the railing then he threw him into the air and teleported into the sky and elbowed him launching him towards the ground. Riku was picked up once again and thrown to the ground twice then his stomach was slashed by the Zanbato twice and then Riku started to cough up blood. The group gasped and covered their eyes as to prevent any more images from getting thrown in their face. Ehalcim then said, "How disappointing. A warrior who can't even stand is not even a worthy challenge." Ehalcim started to walk away, but Riku then began to stand on his feet. The group cheered and then Ehalcim asked, "How can this be? I sliced your suit with my Zanbato. How can you still be alive?" Riku then said, "I have a bunch of friends who need me now punk. You're finished." Ehalcim ran up with his Zanbato in hand and in one final blow Riku sliced his chest with a black auraed light emulating from the slash and Ehalcim along with the Zanbato dissolved into dust revealing section # 10. Sora meanwhile was getting punched twenty times and then he caught Gantu's last punch before he could hurt him again. He then grabbed the dark ring off his neck and sliced it in half. After the barrier dispersed, Gantu apologized for attacking him as did Reuben and they both went on Gantu's big black futuristic looking ship into the stars above.

Sora and the others then began saying their goodbyes and then Lilo gave Sora a shark tooth. She said, "My sister, Nani got it from her boyfriend. He wrestled a shark and pulled it out from its jaws." Sora then said, "Thanks. Lilo, you and your family are part of my 'ohana' you know." Lilo nodded and said, "You are part of mine too Sora. No matter where you go, you and your friends will always be part of it." Sora smiled and then waved goodbye to the girl and the group left through the gate on the other side of the island. When they returned they saw that the gate to the north had a barrier on it and then went to Merlin's House to investigate. The group then saw pirate looking heartless appear everywhere and fought them while searching Radiant Garden for them. They found Merlin and he told them that the group was in hiding and told them to go to Ansem's computer room because another gate appeared there. They soon found themselves back in Ansem's computer room and then saw another gate beside the one to Proteus. It had a treasure chest as a symbol and then went inside it as fast as they could.


	40. Chapter 39: Treasure Planet

**Treasure Planet**

As the group entered into the world (which Mickey called the Space Maximum), they found themselves on board a ship, but not just any ordinary ship. It was six to eight metres wide and ten metres long. The ship was all mechanical and instead of a rudder at the back of it was an engine system or the sort. They also saw that instead of being on an ocean, they were in space with different planets and stars clearly seen in all directions. It was also had a strange crew too. They weren't humans, but aliens. Some of them had hunch backs, others had tubes for arms and legs as well as all over their entire bodies as well. One alien was like a spider. He had four legs, black and red clothing covered his body and his legs, and his head was extremely skinny and his mouth had two jaw teeth curling upward and two incisor teeth pointing down in the centre of his mouth. Then the captain appeared.

She was wearing a blue overcoat symbolizing her status and her job, she looked like a cat in a way because her nose was shaped like one as were her hands. She did seem human because her hair was combed and braded like English women were back in the sixteen hundreds. She asked the confused group, "Who are you and what do you think you're doing here?" Before they could answer a tall guy beside her then said, "They must be stowaways Madame." This man wore a red overcoat, had a black sailing hat on the top of his head wore white pants and a white silk trimmed shirt, and his body was shaped like that of a rock-like human making him at least seven feet tall. Then the group heard someone say, "Stop don't hurt them!!" It was a human boy. He looked about as old as Riku maybe two years older at best, wore a black jacket with some brown pants and a brown shirt. His hair was trimmed nicely around his sideburns, in a sense his hair acted like a crown around his head and he had a tiny tied tail of hair down near the back of his neck like any other English man or boy had it in the sixteen hundreds.

The boy then said, "Move along. Nothing to see here. They're with me Captain." The female feline captain stared at the group with a stern look and then asked, "Is that so? Well then I should assume you will be the one to look after them Mr. Hawkins." The boy nodded and then the Captain said, "Very well. They can stay on one condition: They have to do three tasks for me. It's all on this list and I expect them to be done. Is that clear?" The group nodded and then Sora took the piece of paper from the captain's feline hands. She walked away and the tall rock man beside her put his index finger and his middle finger close to his eyes and then pointed to them as he walked away. The boy then turned to the group and said, "I don't know who you are, but let's get one thing straight. You can't just barge onto a ship on short notice. The captain could've had you arrested and put in prison for B and E." Sora then asked, "B and E?" Riku whispered to Sora, "Breaking and Entering." Sora then said, "Listen. We're really sorry about that. We didn't mean to cause trouble for ya." "It's okay. Anyways, I'm Jim Hawkins. What's yours?" Sora then said, "Well I'm Sora, this is Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Tidus, Yuffie and this little fella is Jiminy Cricket." The little insect jumped onto Jim Hawkins teenage shoulders and said, "Pleased to meet ya."

Then a voice said, "Hey Jimbo. You'd best get moving. These decks won't clean themselves ya know." The group looked towards the lower deck where a cyborg like man was standing at. He had a fat pudgy body, wore a greased up white shirt, had a black over coat and black pants resembling that of a pirate, his left eye was a golden robotic technological orb and his left arm and leg were nothing more than machine parts. Jim Hawkins then said, "I'd best get going. It was nice meeting you Sora." Sora waved goodbye and then as Jim left the group looked at the list. The first thing they had to do was peel potatoes. They went down to the kitchen of the ship and peeled enough potatoes to keep them going to their destination and back. The next thing to do was polish the railing of the ship. The group split up and then took care of that with a couple of breaks in between. The next thing to do was scrub off the crews' boots. It was a tough job, but they did it with a bit of time to spare as well. By the time they finished scrubbing, night started to settle (for space anyway). The group then came back to find the captain, but noticed Jim holding his mop staring into space talking to the fat man again. He said, "You know you got to pick your fights better me lad. Didn't your father ever teach you that?" Jim stayed silent. The man then said, "He was not the teaching sort then?" Jim then walked back to a mop and bucket nearby and then replied, "No he was more of the taking off and never coming back sort." The fat man then got silent silently saying oh. He then walked up to Jim and put his right arm on his shoulder and said, "Oh sorry lad." Jim replied in a sarcastic way, "Oh no. It's fine. I mean it's no big deal." The man asked, "Is that so? Well then it seems that the captain has put me in charge then. Looks like I have to get into your mind as best I can. That's right me boy, you won't eat, sleep, nor even do as little as scratch you bum…"he smacked the railing. "…without my say so." Jim Hawkins then said, "You're not the boss of me. You don't do me any favours." "You can be sure I won't my lad. You can be sure of that."

Jim then stormed off and accidently pushed Sora to the ground. "Oh crap. I'm so sorry Sora. Here let me help you up." As Jim grabbed Sora's hand, Sora then said, "Looks like you guys had a nice chat." Jim then said, "Oh that guy is the cook, Long John Silver. I wouldn't mind him. He's got a little bit of a weird way of showing his colours that's all. Anyways, the captain said she was impressed by your work and said you're all welcome to come with us to Treasure Planet." The group asked what that was and Jim explained that it was a legendary planet where the pirate, Captain Flint hid a legendary loot piloted from a thousand worlds. Legend had it that that loot was still there to this very day, yet no pirate or anyone else was able to find it, except with the help of a golden metal orb, which the captain had locked away with them. They then went off to bed on the bottom deck and began their work load helping Jim clean the ship everyday for the next few weeks that did pass by.

Yuffie then said mopping a tiny piece of the bow, "If I have to mop anymore scum off this ship I think my head will crack." Mickey then said, "Oh suck it up princess!! We're all in this together. So like it or not we got to do what we can to make the best of it until we reach Treasure Planet. Maybe there's a way to get to Sanshobi from there." Yuffie nodded and then they got back to work. Sora then noticed Silver throw a bucket in Jim's hands and point to the deck and he said to Riku, "Sure seems like Silver is kind of rough with him isn't he?" Riku then said, "Yeah, but you heard Jim. He doesn't have a father. He left him as a kid. I think Silver is just trying to be the father he never had." Sora asked, "How do you know that?" Riku then said, "I don't. It's just instinct. Anytime someone gets in someone's face means that they like that person or something." Sora nodded and then they both got back to mopping the deck.

The days passed by and the weeks got longer, and as the group returned to the ship from cleaning its undersides, the group listened to another conversation that Silver and Jim had. Silver said, "Man I don't know how, but you are something else lad." Jim then said, "Well let's just say the people back home weren't calling my name. But I'm gonna change all that." "Oh how is that my dear boy?", asked Silver. "I got some plans. Then people will see me differently." Silver then said, "Oh plans my boy do go astray." Jim replied, "Yeah well not this time. I'm gonna change all that." Silver then brought his leg up and then a tiny pink bit of floating matter called Morph turned into a wrench and Silver used him to tighten his leg. Riku then asked, "So how'd that happen? I mean you getting the arm and leg like that." Silver then said, "You give up a few things chasing a dream." Sora then asked, "Was it worth it?" Silver sat down next to Jim and Sora plopping his arms around them and then said, "I sure hope so my young children. I most surely am."

Then the group heard an explosion from the top of the deck, and then Silver asked, "What in the blue blazes?" The group then headed up and noticed a red explosion in the sky. They noticed a dog-like man in a red over coat and white pants say, "Good Heavens." He took out his telescope. He then continued, "It's the star Pelusa. It's gone super nova." Sora and Riku then transformed into their armoured suits and then morphed to become Ankyronox. Mickey then transformed as well and then said, "I'll go attach the life lines. Jim, I'm gonna need your help on this one." Jim nodded and then Mickey and him left for the centre of the ship. Silver then said, "Well that's a new trick. Are you boys comfortable in that hunk of metal?" As he knocked on the suit, Ankyronox said, "I'll go take of the debris, you go take everyone else to safety." Silver nodded and then the group left for the stern. Ankyronox attacked as much debris as could and then noticed a huge chunk fly past them towards the ship. Yet before he could react, he saw a black ship inside the centre of the super nova. He turned to get to the debris and when he destroyed it and looked back it was gone.

Meanwhile, as the ship got sucked towards the newly formed black hole, Mickey and Jim had finished attaching all the life lines and Mickey said he would go and secure all of the masts and went to do that. Yet at the top of the central mast, Mickey saw a devastating sight. The spider-like alien they saw from before cut the life line for the giant rock man, or Arrow, as the captain called him and he fell straight into the black hole. Mickey then turned around noticing Ankyronox and then he created a 'Dark Vortex' which sucked away the black hole and got them out of danger. Ankyronox deformed in time for the captain to arrive and ask for the attendance of the crew. The captain then asked them where Arrow was. The spider like alien said, "His life line wasn't secured. This is all that's left of him Captain." The alien showed up in a disappointed state and showed her the hat of Arrow. She looked to Mickey and Jim and Jim said, "We made sure the lines were tightened. Look I'll prove it." He looked to all of them and there was one missing. "They were before. We made sure didn't we Mickey?" Mickey nodded and then the Captain just excused them and showed her respect for Arrow then returned to the Captain's Room. Mickey then gathered the group, as well as Silver and said, "That rope was cut you guys. I saw that spider alien do it. He's to blame for all this." Jim then asked, "Then why'd you not say anything?" Mickey then explained that he didn't want to worry the crew. Jim ran away, and then Silver ran after him as well as did the rest of the group. Mickey then looked to Jim as he was standing at the stern of the ship saying, "Look I'm sorry Jim. I'll tell the captain right now if that makes it any better." Jim then said, "No it's not your fault Mickey it's mine." Riku then asked, "Your fault? How is it your own fault?" Jim then said, "I screwed up. I always did tend to make a mess back. If I had just gone with Mickey instead of staying here with you guys I could have done something. Then again maybe I would've just screwd that up too."

The group got sad and stared at the floor. Silver then walked up to Jim and said, "Now you listen here James Hawkins." He pulled on Jim's shoulder to face him. He continued, "You got the makings of greatness in you. But you go to take the helm and charge your own course. Stick to it, no matter the squalls. And when the time comes you test the real cut of your sails and show them what you're made of. Well I hope I'm there. Catching some of the light that come off ya that day." Jim then sniffled a little and put his head down on Silver's fat stomach. Although, Silver and the group were a little surprised at this, Silver then hugged the poor boy calming him down as he cried on his shirt. The group sighed and Silver then said prying the boy from his weeping, "Well Jimbo I'd best be getting back to watch and you laddies and the lass best be getting some shuddah." As Jim and the others headed for the stairs, They stared back at Silver and they smiled at him sensing his kindness. They then looked to the stairs and walked down it to the tarps to get some sleep.

The next day, the group awoke to find Jim not in his usual spot. They then woke up and looked all over the ship to find him, but no luck. They searched near the kitchen area and then heard someone coming. They hid under the tables and then noticed it was the crew and Silver himself. Next to him was a man in a hooded suit. He pulled down his hood to reveal a man who looked like Saïx, except he had brown hair and his eyes were blue. He then took out a rifle for a gun and placed it on the table Sora and Riku were underneath. He then said in a gay-like American accent, "That wasn't smart Scroop. For that, you don't deserve life you wretch." He then shot Scroop with his rifle and left the spider-like alien down dead. Silver then said nervously with the crew covering their eyes, "So what's the next plan then sir?" "You just lead them to the planet. When we get there, we'll take the orb from them and find the treasure with them dead or alive your choice. Either way Silver, you'd best do as I say or my heartless pirates will see to it you don't live long to see Treasure Planet." Silver gulped and said, "Yes sir." The hooded man disappeared and then Silver and the crew left to go up to the top deck. Then the group appeared from under the table and saw Jim come out from the potato barrel and he said, "So you heard too?" Sora then said, "Loud and clear Jim. They won't get away with this though." "I think we just did lads.", said Silver at the top of the stairs coming down to them. Sora and the others then escaped up the stairs heading for lifeboats and noticed that same dog-like man from before with the captain heading there as well. Riku then said stopping at the centre of the ship, "I'll be back I gotta take care of a few things." Sora asked, "But why?" Riku yelled, "Just do it now!! I'll come back for you guys." Then Sora and the others escaped on the lifeboat and Jim had the orb in his hands as they landed on a lush green planet below them. They then saw Riku fall and then pull out a giant cloth and use it like a parachute. Jim then tried giving the orb to the Captain since she asked for it and it turned out to be morph disguised as the orb. Jim asked it where the real orb was and Morph then used his ability to tell him it was still on the ship. Jim then said, "Oh that's great. We'll never get it back now!!" Riku then asked, "Get what back?" As he held the orb, Jim ran up and hugged the guy saying, "Good job Riku. How'd you know where it was?" Riku then said, "I took a guess. Plus I tinkered around with the ship a little. Let's just say it's defense system is out of commission now." The group then went into the jungle, with an injured captain and the dog-like man that called himself Dr. Doppler through the giant mushroom like tree forest to a giant cone like ship. It appeared wrecked and unused and was the perfect spot for them to hide while they thought of a plan to lose the pirates. Mickey then asked, "Where are we anyway?" Jim then opened the orb and noticed a green planet with two rings around it. "Treasure Planet. I don't believe it. It's actually real." "And you all just leaded us to it.", Silver said as he appeared with his crew of alien pirates and some heartless pirates next to them.

Jim then used the orb as Silver commanded and the group was taken across the entire stretch of the planet towards a rocky cliff. Jim noticed a hole in the ground that fit the orb and placed it in there. He then stepped back and noticed a giant entrance open. They all went inside and in it was treasure as far as the eye could see. The entire core of the planet was the treasure itself and had many jewels and other trinkets. Silver then said, "At long last it's mine." The entire crew went inside and then the Sora then said, "I don't like the looks of this place. It seems kinda creepy." The group then noticed that an explosion happened and the treasure was starting to fall inside the core of the planet. Many of the pirates fell into the core as well as did some of the heartless too. The group then noticed the hooded man they saw from before attach a ring around Silver's neck and then Sora said, "You guys don't know how to fight fair. Do you?" The hooded man then said, "I don't really care its just business. By the way the name's Taylcon. Learn it well, for the price of your doom."

Then Sora and Riku transformed into their armoured selves and morphed into Ankyronox and began fighting Taylcon while Mickey and Jim morphed to become Tiran and began fighting Silver. The rest of the group headed for the exit and then boarded the abandoned ship they used from before. Tiran punched Silver twice and then kicked him to the ground and grabbed the ring off his neck and destroyed it. Tiran de-morphed back into Mickey and Jim and Silver then said, "Oh no!! my treasure no!!" Silver ran after it and then Taylcon kicked Ankyronox off the cliffs and grabbed Jim and threw him over the cliffs. He held on as best as he could, but Taylcon soon saw him there and held his gun to his face. Silver grabbed the ship that held most of the treasure and noticed Jim in trouble. He couldn't decide at first between the treasure and Jim's life, but then said, "Well I'll be a fool for giving this up." He sacrificed the treasure and then ran after Jim. Taylcon said, "Say good bye kid. Your life ends now!!" Before Taylcon could pull the trigger, Silver kicked him and said while grabbing and pulling Jim up, "Not on my watch Taylcon. I don't care what ya do to me. No treasure is worth more than a person's life." Silver grabbed Jim and took him out of the dark treasure room. Jim and Silver boarded the ship and then Mickey asked, "Where's Sora and Riku?" Silver then raised his hat to his chest, "I saw them go over the cliff. I'm sorry." The group started to cry, but before they could continue they heard something step on the ship.

Taylcon then appeared gun pointed to Silver and said, "No one double crosses me. Especially you Silver." Then Taylcon got kicked and a familiar voice said, "Let's finish this!!" The group smiled and saw Ankyronox with his fists at his chest and then another fight began again between the two. Taylcon shot at the Ankyronox on the mast, but missed and Ankyronox kicked his gun off the ship to which it dissolved before falling over. Taylcon then punched Ankyronox in the stomach saying, "Guns are for wimps anyway." Ankyronox then asked, "What does that make you?" Taylcon then kicked Ankyronox and swung him around in circles and threw him half way across the ship. He then smashed his face across the railing and beat him so hard, he didn't have enough energy to summon a 'Dark Portal' to get rid of Taylcon.

Taylcon then punched him in the chest and Ankyronox de-morphed back into Sora and Riku. He then grabbed them hard at their necks and held them over the ship and asked, "Any last words boys?" Sora and Riku then noticed his left foot caught on a piece of the railing and then Sora winked to Riku and vice versa. Riku then said, "Just one word actually. Surf's up!!" Sora kicked him in the stomach and then Riku back flipped him over the edge and Riku then saw a piece of paper fly towards him from Taylcon's body and as he grabbed it, Taylcon turned to dust. The page he grabbed was section # 8. As the group held onto the ship, Jim then stared back of the stern and saw an explosion. "We'd better punch it you guys. We got a problem." Dr. Doppler then said, "We're only at 30 power. We'll never escape the blast in time." Jim then grabbed a piece of metal and turned it into a metal board with an engine attached to it. "That orb is like a portal. If I can get close to it I can change the route to some place safe." Silver then said, "That plan is so crazy, it just might work." Silver and Morph then worked the engine a little and then Jim surfed off speeding to the orb and changed it's course to the Montressor Port, thus saving the crew and its ship as well as Jim himself who grabbed onto the ship as best he could.

When they did arrive back home, the Captain then called the group in private, as well as Jim, Morph, and Silver. She then sitting in here private chair of her captain's room at the port and said, "You all brought stowaways onto this ship, you nearly got us all killed, and I can barely feel my legs as of this moment." The crew looked to the floor disappointed and sad feeling terrible. The captain then said, "And you saved us from sheer destruction. Well done. I should hope to go on another trip with you all soon. It's too bad Arrow wasn't here. He would've loved this journey." Then the group went outside and Jim then said to Sora, "Thanks Sora. If it wasn't for you guys, I don't know how we would've survived against those white things. What were they again?" Sora then said, "Heartless. And it's no problem. It's what we do best." Jim nodded and said, "I'd best be getting back home now. I'll see you around okay?" Sora then nodded as Jim gave him a cyborg arm he personally made and the group left through the gate back home. As they arrived home, they noticed that like their trip from Proteus, the heartless were gone again. They then went back to the floating island and headed to the gate at the north. It had a Sword for a symbol and they went in without a moment to lose.


	41. Chapter 40: Land of Knights

**Land of Knights**

The group landed on a vast, white painted ship. It looked really "modern" since it was designed like ships like Titanic or the Lusitania, but it had different types of lifeboats and rooms on it. As the group awoke from their fall, they noticed two men standing near the edge of the ship talking. One of them was a blonde man, had a crooked looking nose, and was middle aged judging from his "mature" chin. He was also wearing a good set of brown pants, an imperial shirt because of the centered cuffing of it, and along with that he had a dark blue vest with white encrusted cuffing on it as well. The guy next to him looked like Chief Inspector Lee, but his hair was much longer, his clothes were more of a western type of style and he had a much stern look about him than him as well.

The blonde man then asked them, "Just who the heck are you guys? You look like you just fell from nowhere." Sora said, "You can say that again. Who are you guys?" The blonde man then said, "I can't believe you'd even say that. I'm a legend back where my friend Chon Wang and I are from." He then pointed to the Chinese man and he waved to Sora and the others. "I'm Roy O'Bannon.", said the blonde man. Sora and the others soon stood up and Sora said, "I'm Sora. This is Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Tidus, Yuffie, and the little guy in my pocket is Jiminy Cricket." As he said this Mickey then started talking and explained to Roy O'Bannon and Chon Wang about some hooded men and about Darkness and Victor plus their intentions. Chon Wang said, "Actually I did see one hooded man. He dropped this on the road back home and I figured I would take it when finding Roy here." The group then took a piece of paper from Chon's hands and it was a note to Victor saying that Radiant Garden had been taken over by Darkness. He also said it wouldn't be long before he destroyed the world entirely. Sora then said, "Well it looks like we're stuck here until we can come up with a better line of defense against these guys." The group then stared out at the ocean as they headed out towards the shores of Britain and towards the docks of London, England.

As they got off, they then got a carriage ride to the central part of London itself and the group then decided on their next plan of attack. Riku then said, "If that guy is still here, maybe we can catch him off guard or something. He could give us more info. as to what Victor's up to." Mickey then said, "As long as we stay focused for our task at hand, we could go and put his head in a bucket of butter for all I care." The group nodded and then a little boy, in scruffed up English clothing, wearing a brown hat brushed on by Roy and Roy said, "Hey watch it you little punk!!" The boy then said, "N'worries. I'll just go on then." As he walked away, he stopped for a second and then asked, "You gents lost your way?" Chon Wang then said, "Well yes. We're looking for my sister. She's staying at 32 Oxford Street." The boy then said, "I know where 'go. Me old man used to live there." Mickey then said, "Can you show us the way then?" The boy stared at his shoes and said, "Me memory is a little dotty. But for five bubba I can get you there." Roy then yelled at the kid asking, "What do you take us for, a couple of Odkies from a Skokie. Go on, sell your bullshit someplace else. We're not buying it." The boy then said as he held up a yellow watch, "Well thanks for the tip, gaff." Roy looked at his pocket and then said, "Hey you stole the watch I got from my uncle." They then started chasing the boy through different streets of the city of London until they hit a market place. The group then arrived and found the boy surrounded by a group of rough looking men in brown overcoats and tall brown poufy hats. Chon then said, "Leave the boy alone." One of the men said, "Bloody tourists. Get your noses out of it." Roy then said, "Guys do what ya want to the kid, but that's my watch you're holding there." The leader of the men was a scruffy man with a mustache, a beard and looked Irish because he had red hair all over his face. He then said, "Well there's a load of us and only ten of you. So piss off." Roy replied, "Easy fellas. You lost one war this way. Don't make the same mistake again."

The boy kicked a man in the nuts and pushed another to the ground and fled into the city. Meanwhile the group was left to contend with all of the gangsters to which Sora and the others said "We'll handle this." Sora, Riku and Mickey then transformed into their armoured selves and then back shuffled a few of the men while Chon led some of the men into the market. He got his hat and jacket taken and pushed into some of the fruit and grabbed a couple of lemons and squeezed one at the guy behind him and then the guy covering his eyes in front of him opened his eyes to see and Chon squeezed juices into his eyes as well. Meanwhile Riku jumped onto a fruit stand and climbed on up to the top to deal with the gangsters. They climbed up onto the stands and then Riku jumped onto the covering of one stand and launched one guy backwards. He did it again and launched a guy into the streets outside of the market, and he punched a guy off the stand next to him. Sora and Mickey did twirls in the air and kicked guys on the right and left halfway across the streets themselves.

Chon Wang then climbed up a set of stairs and grabbed a set of hay attached to a rope rid it down to the bottom and then noticed a group of men there and cut the line riding it up to the top of another set of stairs. He then grabbed a ladder, fell and then pushed the guy trying to kick him down the stairs with the ladder attached to his shirt down taking out another set of men as well. Chon then jumped onto a set of baskets and rid them down into a coffin. He survived, but had a tough time getting out of it. Then he grabbed an umbrella from a stack on the streets and then grabbed one guy with the pointed end and another with the curved end and he after a short struggle twisted them fast in the blink of an eye to the ground. Sora and the others gasped at this looking at the way he fought with such ease. Sora then jumped onto a set of boxes and then threw some at the men and then a guy dropped his gun on the platform of boxes and then he crushed his hand as he reached for it.

Chon then noticed a man getting away with his jacket and then grabbed him with the curved end of the umbrella and got his jacket back while putting it on I might add. Then the man fled only to have his head clobbered by Roy's arm stretched out in front of his face. Roy grabbed Chon's hat in mid air and gave the hat back to Chon Wang as the group returned from the far ends of the market. Roy asked, "Did you see that?" Chon replied, "It's okay." "Okay? I call that my 'Kung Pow Chicken on a Clothes Line the sucker!!'" Then the police arrived and a man with plain hair arrived in a good set of brown clothes with tacky white clothing on the inside and he wore a beige rounded hat indicating he was the inspector of the city. He looked around and saw men lying around everywhere and said, "I think you gentle men and children better escort me back to the yard."

As the group arrived in their cell, Roy yelled, "This isn't a yard. It's a jail!!" Riku then said, "Roy calm down." He sat down and said, "Unbelievable." Roy then heard footsteps and said, "Someone's coming." Chon said, "I'll handle this." Roy replied, "No Chon. I'm gonna handle it okay? The English aren't like you. They don't get all emotional and touchy feely. Do me a favour. Park the kung-fu and let me do the talking." Then that same inspector opened the cell and said, "Come here. Let me give you a hug!!" He then hugged the group and they all looked at each other wondering what to make of the situation. The inspector said, "I have been after that gang for two years now and you all take them down in a single afternoon. Brilliant mound." Roy noticed his watch and took it. The inspector said, "Ah yes a street urchin turned it in after the commotion had ceased and desisted." As Roy talked to himself for a bit, the inspector said, "I do hope your luck improves." The group asked him what he meant and he explained that by looking at the watch it seemed like Roy hit rather of a rough patch. Chon said it was true and asked how he knew. The inspector said he could deduce any traits of an individual from the stuff they carried, the scuff marks left behind and all the places it had been with the owner. Chon being curious and oddly enjoying the moment, asked what else he knew.

The inspector looked at the watch and said, "The owner of this watch is a bad gambler and a lousy shot. Although chiggy at several times he spends most of his life wandering in a rather pathetic and futile search for purpose and respect." Chon smiled and eerily was liking this, something the group didn't understand nor did they want to know about. The inspector continued, "Oh yes. He also has a ponshon for loose women." Chon then replied with a sarcastic laugh, "Wow that's amazing." After a slight turn in the conversation, Mickey saw something outside the jail cell. It looked like a hooded man, but he disappeared too quick and then got back to the task at hand. Chon had just told them that he wanted to see a woman by the name of Lynn Wang and then they were all asked to go with him. They all went to a different end of Scotland Yard and went inside a private cell. They all saw a bed covered by a blanket and when they opened it, it was just a pillow and some other quilts underneath it. They then saw a woman appear and kick the inspector and then as Chon grabbed the woman's leg it was nearly inches away from Roy's face. The woman was Chinese like Chon Wang, wore a set of red clothing and a blacked vested suit over top of it. It was Lynn Wang as Chon had said her name and that she was his sister. They were told by her that she was put in the prison for attempting to murder Lord Rathbone, who had murdered their father back in China. Before they left the cell, Roy gave her a set of 'dirty' playing cards (namely because of nude women on them) and said his good bye to Lynn.

They all left for the main office of the Inspector where he told them of Lord Rathbone and his identity being tenth in line to the throne, the queen's favourite cousin and the finest swordsman in England only being evenly matched by a hooded man that just recently arrived in London. He also said that Lynn being dubbed as "Looney Lynn" would go trial and be put into an institution for the criminally insane if they couldn't get her out. Irony being, that she was as good as sentenced right there and then. The group then asked the Inspector where they could find this hooded man and he said, he was right outside of London at a graveyard. The group told Chon Wang and Roy O'Bannon they would meet up with them later on in London. They agreed and the group left to the graveyard outside of the city.

As they arrived in the graveyard, it was night time by the time they searched for him and they found nothing. Yet before they left the dark cemetery, they saw a hooded man appear wielding a blackened rapier. As he walked down through the cold foggy graves of the cemetery he said in a British accent, "I can't possibly believe the master is feeling the least bit befuddled over a bunch of children. And yet because of you cretins, my life has just taken a turn for worse." Sora then said, "So just don't do as Victor says. If he really isn't helping you guys out, then don't help him." The hooded man raced forward and had his rapier just inches away from Sora's collar and said, "Such provocative nuisances. I can't believe you'd even dare talk to me you little wretch." Sora transformed into his armoured form and prepared himself for battle. The hooded man pulled down his hooded revealing a man who looked just like Xemnas in every way, except that his hair was brown and his eyes were green. "Very well my boy. You want a fight we'll fight then. Think fast." He zoomed right past Sora and slashed him in a millisecond de-morphing him. Sora then looked at his clothes and asked, "How's that possible? I barely even felt your presence near me." The hooded man said, "You didn't react in time boy. Had I actually wanted I could've killed you right there." He then summoned a portal and said, "We'll meet again yet. In Sanshobi, the last of the hooded men are waiting for you all. Don't be late." Then Sora said, "Wait. We didn't even get your name." He then said, "My name is Kered. It's nothing fancy, if only just a name, but I'm no judge of character. Until we meet again." He then disappeared into the portal and Sora replied, "Until we meet again."

The group returned back to London and found a letter on the ground. It was from Roy and Chon saying they left for a party that Lord Rathbone was hosting. They would be back as soon as they could. Mickey then said, "We're going off to Stonehenge." Riku then asked, "Why are we going there?" Mickey then said, "I thought I recognized this place and I have. It's the Land of Knights. I remember this place, because I helped out Roy and Chon here before six years earlier. They used to call this place, Land of the West. Either way, it's a feeling I have that's all." The group took Mickey's word for it and travelled to Stonehenge. Riku then said, "Well we can say that we've been to Stonehenge at least." Mickey then said, "That's all nice and dandy, but we have to find Chon and Roy first." They then saw an ancient jalopy crashed into one of the stones and they saw Roy got licked by a sheep.

As they went down, Roy screamed and collapsed on the ground. Sora then asked, "You okay?" Roy then said, "No I'm not okay Sora. I've just been violated by a barnyard animal." Chon then said, "Who would leave a pile of stones in the middle of the field?" Roy then said, "I don't know Chon. These people are weird." The group then discussed and Sora said, "Should we tell them about this place?" Riku then said, "I've learned over time that some things are just better left unsaid Sora. We should get moving. Let's roll!!" The group found themselves on a countryside road just a couple miles away from the graveyard and then they started hitchhiking noticing a carriage and a stranger in a woolen cloak and brown hat pass by. It was Lynn Wang once more. As they passed by random sets of the English countryside, Roy and Lynn discussed about how she knew her way around and made fun of Chon in which he got lost in a mountain side 'forever' and when he was young he got lost on the Great Wall for three days.

Roy then asked, "Can I tell you something about being offended?" Everyone listened closely. He then said, "You have a great body. There I said it." As Lynn laughed at this Yuffie then looked to the ground angrily and then asked the group, "Do you think he hears what hear all time or is it just a joke to him?" Mickey then said, "It's just Roy being Roy. I've dealt with this before Yuffie believe you me, it takes some time to get used to his kind of behaviour." Roy said, "I heard that." Pretty soon the group got quiet as Chon sat in the front seat and they soon arrived back in London, but this time Chon and Roy had wanted posters out for their capture. They soon checked into a hotel called 'Puss in Boots' and Roy implied that some sailors from the ship recommended it for a night's stay. As they went inside, the group said they would look after getting their rooms and then checked into a couple of suites. Yet just as they were going to relax, they heard Lynn and Chon Wang argue about Roy. Apparently it was about his behaviour and habits, from smoking to drinking and the fact his semen didn't swim upstream and he was shooting 'blanks'. Riku then said, "Well so much for relaxing in a nice warm room." Sora then said, "We can't just sit by and think everything's alright though." Riku then said, "Point well taken let's go." They all then went downstairs and noticed Roy and the ground with a broken beer bottle and He said, "You're dead to me. I don't know a Chon Wang." As Chon Wang walked away with some random trinkets in his hands, Sora tried asking him not to go, but Riku then said it would be pointless right now saying that things just have to smooth out first before getting better.

Sora then saw Kered outside and then the group followed him outside. Kered was talking into his communicator and it said, "I hope things are working out alright there Kered. Because if things aren't you know the consequences." Kered then said, "I promise you master. You will have this world by my iron fist. I guarantee it." Victor then said, "You'd better hope you do. That thin line I said wasn't so big has tripled its size right now. That goes for the rest of the hooded gang as well. You guys are on thin ice." Kered then said, "Understood master. I shall not return empty handed." He then disappeared into a dark portal. He dropped a ruby on the ground and Sora quickly took it with him as he saw the group go back into the 'Puss in Boots' Inn. The group then went upstairs to warn Chon and Roy and noticed Lynn was going to do the same thing and when they arrived and opened the door, there were twenty stripper women in the room and Chon and Roy were naked. The group covered their eyes and Riku said, "Well this just sucks. Now I'm never gonna get this image outta my face." Sora then said, "Yeah I know what you mean." Chon and Roy then pointed at each other while holding pillows over their 'wieners' saying, "It was his idea." Then Lynn ran out of the room and then Roy said, "Wait Lynn." Chon then said, "Clothes!!" The group nodded and looked away once more thinking, "Please for God's sake do put some clothes on!!"

As they left to follow Lynn the group got there earlier and saw that she kicked a man in dark clothing off the bridge towards the graveyard saying something in Chinese. Roy and Chon arrived saying, "Lynn, don't you know that there's a serial killer on the loose. Then the group saw a group of Chinese looking men appear and surround them. Chon then said, "You guys best run for it. Head into London and get out of here as fast as you can." Sora then said, "But Chon we can't just leave you guys here." Roy then said, "Looks like that's a risk we have to take fellas. Now go!!" The group ran as fast as they could and noticed a brunette man wearing dark clothing and wore a black cape appear and along with the men that Chon called 'Boxers' appeared and left with their captives.

As the group headed into London, Sora threw a can to the ground and said, "Man this stinks. We should've stayed and fought." Mickey then replied, "And we would've wasted energy trying to fight that guy with the boxers. He's Lord Rathbone you guys. From what I've heard he is the most powerful man in England and to fight him would be putting a rat up against a cat. It would clearly be an uneven match." Tidus then said, "Sorry Mickey, but I gotta go with Sora on this. We should've done something for Chon and Roy. There captured guys right now." Riku then said, "It's only been an hour. Besides Chon knows kung-fu. They'll be alright." The group then noticed a boy open a carriage and out came the inspector, Roy and Chon. The group rejoiced and ran ahead to greet them. Riku then said, "Like I said, they'll be alright." They then listened to Roy ask, "Why'd you come back for us kid?" The boy asked, "Why'd you give up the seal?" To which Roy replied, "Cuz I'm a fool." The boy responded in kind saying he was a fool too. Roy then asked him what his name was and the boy said it was Charlie Chaplin as he ran on off into the streets and behind a corner leading into an alley. Roy and Chon then asked the group why they didn't leave and they said it wouldn't be in them to just go do that. They all agreed and soon left for Big Ben where the royal family was going to be celebrating the queen's fiftieth year on the throne of England. The group was also informed that there was a machine gun on the barge where the royal family would be overlooking the river. Lord Rathbone would assume the throne and a Chinese guy by the name of Woo Chow would become the emperor of China with the imperial seal.

As the group arrived near the scene of Big Ben, the group saw a huge crowd being blocked by dozens of royal British guards and they decided to split up. Chon, Yuffie, Jiminy Cricket, Tidus, and Donald would go free Lynn and stop the machine gun, while Sora, Riku, Mickey, and Goofy along with the inspector and Roy would go and warn the royal family of the danger. On the barge, a Chinese man in a black overcoat and white pants walked about in the underside of the barge itself with a tied up Lynn Wang and a man with a Vietnamese hat on. He then ordered the man in Chinese that when the fireworks started, to slit Lynn's throat and leave her body by the machine gun. A few minutes later, the fireworks then began, but as the Vietnamese man raised his sword to cut her throat, He saw a shoe kick him in the face and start beating the living snot out of him. Tidus then said clapping his hands in accomplishment, "And you said I didn't know how to fight. Who proved you wrong baby!!" Yuffie then punched Tidus hard in the shoulder and said, "Oh shut it!!" Chon stepped down the barge stairs and untied Lynn. She then slapped him to which Chon asked, "What was that for?" Lynn then said, "You were late."

The group then split up. Lynn and Yuffie and Donald went to distract the men working the fireworks, while Chon, Tidus and Jiminy Cricket left to go after Woo Chow (who was essentially that man with the black overcoat and white pants). Woo Chow had the machine gun locked on target straight for Queen Victoria and the royal family at the balcony across the river. Yet before he could even shoot, Lord Rathbone was in the view and he had to hold off for a bit. Chon then jumped on top of Woo Chow, While Tidus and Jiminy Cricket tried disabling the machine gun. Tidus then said, "Great, where's an off switch when you need one?" Jiminy Cricket then said, "I'd be careful with that if I were you Tidus. That's some pretty dangerous machinery we have here…" Woo Chow kicked Tidus out of the way and shot the machine gun, Tidus and Chon Wang tackled him together. All the while the machine gun went in circles shooting. Chon kicked Tidus by accident and he then asked, "What was that for?" Chon said, "Sorry, Woo Chow is very agile." Woo Chow then punched Tidus and Tidus managed to crush Woo Chow's legs and punch him in kind five times before getting thrown in the path of the machine gun. Yet it just ran out of bullets by the time it reached Tidus.

Meanwhile, Lynn, Donald and Yuffie attacked the other men working the fireworks. Donald zapped on guy and Yuffie and Lynn together kicked four other men, but lots of them still kept on coming right at them when they saw the commotion. Yet all of a sudden they saw bullets coming from the tent in all directions and all the men were shot down right in its path. Yuffie then said, "Well that was fun." Then they saw Chon got kicked out from the tent on his butt and he then kicked a wood cover for the basement of the barge right at Woo Chow and he just jumped over it. Chon then kicked Woo Chow and Tidus tried to punch him, but Woo Chow just threw him and Jiminy Cricket down the side of the barge into the river.

Lynn, Donald and Yuffie then ran over to beat Woo Chow, but he knocked all of their heads into each other and they collapsed on the barge unconscious. Chon grabbed a lifesaver and stuck in on Woo Chow to try and restrain him, but he threw it over the side of the barge and grabbed Chon Wang by the neck with his palm facing upwards. Chon then punched him and he did it once more with his right hand under Chon's neck. Chon then kicked him and punched him again only to be brought down by Woo Chow and Woo Chow kicked Chon down with his legs knelt and his back on the barge floor. He took out a knife with a dragon encrusted at the handle. Yuffie then said, "Hey Woo Chow!!" He saw the girl and ran towards her, but Lynn then came out with a lit firework and blasted it right at Woo Chow. In less than a few seconds he blew up into a million pieces in mid air. Yuffie then said, "We make a good team." Lynn replied, "We do."

Meanwhile, Roy O'Bannon took a horse and along with Sora, Riku, Mickey, Goofy, and the Inspector jumped over the crowd of British guards and headed towards the tower of Big Ben. When they entered inside the heritage tower, they saw a long hallway with the British coat of arms here and there along with various emblems of French Seniority. They also saw Lord Rathbone in the centre of the hallway. Roy then said, "Hey Rathboner!!" The horse leaped up a bit and the Inspector and Mickey both fell off. "I take it by your hasty retreat you're still twentieth in line for the throne." Lord Rathbone replied, "Tenth!!" Roy then said, "Inspector Doyle, arrest this man." Inspector Doyle stood up and put his hat on his head, but Lord Rathbone took out a tiny white pistol gun to which Roy said, "Look out he's got a gun!!" He then shot Inspector Doyle and by the time Chon, Lynn, Yuffie, Tidus, Donald, and Jiminy Cricket arrived he ran away. Chon asked, "What happened?" Roy replied, "Rathbone got Artie with little sissy gun!!" Mickey then said, "Well that settles it. I'm staying her to look after him. Who's all going after Rathbone?" Sora raised his hand as did Riku and Roy and Chon. Chon then grabbed a sword of a rack of arms and threw it to Roy. He then took one off and stared at Yuffie and said, "For father." Lynn replied, "For father." Roy then said, "For old man Wang." To which Lynn slightly giggled and gave him a set of cards. It was the same deck he gave her a couple of days ago. Lynn and Roy shared a kiss and she said, "Be careful." Roy then said, "Tell Rathbone to be careful!!"

As Roy, Chon, Sora, and Riku headed off, Sora and Riku transformed into their armoured suits and morphed together into Ankyronox. They headed towards the stairs, and Lord Rathbone then shot the bottom of the stairway where Ankyronox was and Roy yelled, "You're going to need a bigger gun!!" They headed up as fast as they could and then Chon told Roy to go up the metal stairs at the top floor of the Big Ben Tower to cover more 'ground'. Ankyronox went with him to keep him company and to watch his back. As they took a look around Roy made a crack joke saying, "Hey uh Rathbone. I was just thinking of a new title for next book. How's Roy O'Bannon vs. little lord sissy sound? Or how about Roy O'Bannon vs. the Man who would be Queen?" As they continued to search, Rathbone appeared from a dark corner and kicked Roy out through the glass of the clock tower. Ankyronox saw this and punched Rathbone sending him to the metal railing of the walk around path of the tower. Chon then threw his sword up and Rathbone got to his feet saying, "Come on up. I'll show you how your father died." Kered then appeared and kicked Ankyronox out the glass of the clock tower and grabbed him taking him to the ground below.

Ankyronox and Kered then clashed swords together and sliced and diced for a few minutes until they hit the ground inside a calm green park. Yet they both survived it due to their power being so extreme and went at it again. Kered was far quicker than Ankyronox and cut his knees and arms. Ankyronox tried grabbing Kered, but he was far too skilled to be intimidated and just karate kicked him in the chest forty feet away from him. Ankyronox then finally outwitted Kered and sliced the hood off of his suit. Kered then said, "Not bad. I admit, I misjudged you. But that won't save you fools." He then grabbed Ankyronox and threw him to the ground doing a back flip in mid air and landing it twenty feet away. He then ran as fast as he could and tackled Ankyronox as he tried to stand up. Ankyronox got up as best as he could and glared into the eyes of a cross armed warrior awaiting the next move.

Chon grabbed his sword and then at the top of the clock tower he clashed his sword with Rathbone's and Roy's that he just grabbed from the ground. Rathbone slashed and slashed with ease against Chon, and then he whacked him in the face. Chon then struck back as best he could always aiming for the chest and when his sword got knocked out of his hands, Rathbone cut his left arm. Rathbone then said, "Come along. I'm waiting." Chon grabbed his sword and then hit the sword on the left, then the right. Yet again his sword got knocked out of his hand and Rathbone grabbed it with both of his swords and said, "One more." Chon then yet again tried to strike him down at the chest with no luck at all. His sword was knocked out his hand and Rathbone had one of his swords pointed at Chon's neck and slashed his collar, but didn't cut his neck. He said again, "One more." Then he grabbed the sword with his swords and threw it to Chon. Chon hit his swords once. Then twice again. Then the third time they clashed Rathbone threw it over the edge by accident into one of the gears of the clock tower itself. Rathbone said, "How disappointing." Chon was on his knees and then said, "One more." At first Rathbone was a little hesitant, but Chon then nodded and he gave a slight grin as he threw the sword to him. Chon then said as he stood up, "You killed my friend." Then he slashed a piece of rope for the wooden platform they were on. It started to fall down a couple of feet and Rathbone dropped his sword nearly losing his balance. Chon then said, "You killed my father!!!" Then he slashed the second rope of the platform and the platform fell towards the glass and both Chon and Rathbone fell over the edge, except that Roy was on the minute hand of the clock and grabbed Chon before he could fall.

Meanwhile, Kered and Ankyronox were already in combat and they just saw Rathbone fall just about five feet from their location. Kered then jumped in mid air and punched Ankyronox five feet away from him. Kered then said to an injured Ankyronox, "I'm impressed Sora. Both you and Riku together have made quite the team facing off against me. But know this I won't go easy on you the next time I see you." As he said this he walked off into another dark portal. Ankyronox then saw Chon and Roy fall from the minute hand of the clock tower and aimed for the British flag. They saved themselves about a good two hundred foot fall, but then fell and landed in the stage coach of Queen Victoria.

The next day, Queen Victoria then knighted Chon, Roy and Inspector Doyle in the Master Chamber of Buckingham Palace. It was white painted and was filled with so many coat of arms it seemed more like a museum than a room. The Queen was very old looking, but thanks to her red robe and classic blue dress it made her seem very important and wise to the people of England. She then knighted Chon Wang for courage and bravery as Sir 'Chon Wang', Roy O'Bannon for uncommon valor as Sir 'Roy O'Bannon', and then she knighted Inspector Doyle for unfasten dedication to justice as Sir 'Arthur Conan Doyle'. Meanwhile, Sora and the others got medals instead. Sora got a medal for 'Loyalty', Riku got one for 'Trust', Yuffie got one for 'Respect of Cause', Tidus got one for 'Inconceivable Strength', Mickey got one for 'Wisdom', Jiminy Cricket got one for 'Determination', Goofy got one for 'Undefeated Kindness', and Donald got one for 'Reliability'. As the group arose from kneeling to her majesty they stood and stared at the audience of British people and they all clapped for joy as they saw their new heroes congratulate them. As the group as well as Lynn, Roy, Inspector Doyle and Chon left the Master Chamber outside of the palace where there was a crew of royal guards waiting to escort the Imperial Seal stolen by Wu Chow back to the Forbidden City in China, Inspector Doyle thanked the group for their hard work and said he would become a writer writing about a detective that would solve mysteries through deductive reasoning. He would call him Sherlock Holmes (which from what the group heard at the end of the adventure was a name Roy made up to get into Rathbone's Castle and past security for the party). Roy then asked Chon if he opened the box and when he said no, Roy took it out of his hands accidently breaking it open. As Chon read it, he saw that his father loved him all along with it saying, "You have grown up so much my son. I am proud to have you cast your own stone."

The group then began to say their goodbyes and as Sora and the others headed off for a gate just nearby the river, Roy then asked, "Oh Sora, do you think we'll ever see you guys again sometime? Personally I'm no good at goodbyes, but I guess it's finally come to this huh?" Sora then gave him the ruby that Kered had dropped the night before and told him, "This could give you something to remember us by. Besides, thanks to helping you guys out here, the worlds are connected, so we can come back anytime." Roy then stared at the ruby as he got on a little carriage buggy with Lynn and then threw him a wax sword. Roy then said, "You little mouse friend told me to keep a look out for one of those if we took a look throughout the city. Chon got it from the Genghis Khan exhibit. Well until we meet again." As Roy said this, the carriage galloped off with him, Lynn and Chon in the seats and from what the group saw behind them was the boy they saw earlier. Sora then replied watching the carriage leave off into the city of London, "Until we meet again."

The group then headed off into Radiant Garden and noticed the sky was grey and the city looked black in colour. Tidus then said, "Well there goes the neighbourhood." Then Mickey said, "We should put all the stuff we got from the worlds over by the centre where the gate to Destiny Island is. Let's go." As Sora set down the shark tooth from Hawaii, the cyborg arm from the Space Maximum, and the sword of Genghis Khan from the Land of Knights near Destiny Island. Then another transporter appeared just behind the gate to Destiny Island. The group got on it and Sora pushed the green button on it to go up. It took them to a much smaller floating island with only two gates: One to their left and one to their right. Tidus headed for the gate to the right and got bounced back by the barrier. Riku then said, "Well so much for that." Sora and the others then headed for the gate to left. They saw it had a Viking ship as a symbol for it and then headed on off into the gate. Meanwhile just as they did, a sinister laugh echoed throughout the land of Radiant Garden as many dark beings soon appeared everywhere moments later.


	42. Chapter 41: The Pathfinder

**The Pathfinder**

The group found themselves inside a dark lush coniferous forest (much like that of Newfoundland or Labrador as you'll soon find out). As Mickey looked around and did his thinking, he then told the group that they were in Darkland Forest. It was home to world full of wild forests and animals as well as natives, but also mentioned that most of them were quite friendly. As the group took a look around the giant expanse, they heard screams coming from the riverside. They ran as fast as they could to find a group of native aboriginals dead by their burning village of animal fur and twig canoes. They also saw a group of larger men in black armour and they wore horned helmed helmets on their heads as well. They laid down dead right next to the natives. They also saw their killer as well. It was Kazuya in the flesh. As Sora ran up and tried punching the guy, Kazuya grabbed Sora's hand in a split second. Sora then yelled, "How could you do that? You just killed innocent people!!" Kazuya's eyes turned red and he said, "I did nothing of the sort boy. Those horned Vikings were the culprit this time around. Besides I told you that I am against Victor and I have become a good guy. By the time I arrived and did what I had to do, I was too late. They killed them all in this village. I heard them say they'll keep going and slaughter all the 'savages' until they are all cleansed from the land." Riku then stared at one of the dead Vikings and asked, "Why would they do this to these people?" "Because it's in their blood. They live and die by the sword." The group turned towards the river and then saw a youthful man, with dirty blonde hair, looked to be in his twenties, wore similar clothing to the native aboriginals, and wielded a straight, classic looking sword (like the one from Disney's 'The Sword in the Stone').

After a few minutes explanation and introductions, the group figured out from Kazuya that the man's name by the people was Ghost because he was born of the 'Dragon Men' as they called them. Kazuya recently arrived in this world to help take the Vikings down one ship at a time (which I am just assuming could carry at least about fifty to a hundred. Correct me if I'm wrong, but those ships aren't too big if I remember them right). Sora then asked, "So what do we do?" Kazuya then said, "Well the first thing I propose we do as that we need to create a distraction. I'll send those Vikings on a wild goose chase, while Ghost leads you guys to the next village and warns them as soon as possible." Tidus then said, "That sounds dumb. Why can't we just face those Vikings head on right here, right now? Those dead guys don't look tough considering they're not moving." Ghost then said, "Those 'guys' have slaughtered hundreds of villages on the island to the east and many villages along the coast. If we let them continue no one will be safe. The village they struck just now was my one. My mother and father paid the price for it as well."

Kazuya tapped his shoulder and said, "You must learn to concentrate on your enemy. If you let them get the better of you, you will always lose. Mark my words Ghost. If you are not too careful, those beasts you call relatives by blood will consume you." Kazuya then left to the south to find more Viking ships. Sora and the others then doused their campfire they set up and then headed off towards the mountains. Along the way, Sora then asked Ghost as they trudged through the forest, "So I take it you're one of those big guys themselves?" He nodded and replied, "I was born in a land that had ice and snow as far as the eye could see. Those things came from there as did I. I in fact was lost as a boy when I was brought over here from that land. The natives raised me ever since and made me into who I am today." Sora then said, "That's quite a story you got there…" Yet before Ghost could reply he held out his sword and an arrow flung straight into the caliber.

When the group looked to see who it was in the canopy, they saw a woman with a black bow and red arrows. She was dressed in a fur suit skinned from that of a timber wolf. Ghost seemed to recognize her and smiled as he said, "I was wondering when you would arrive. We have a lot of ground to track." The woman was in her twenties like Ghost, had a youthful face covered in native paint, and she had a feather in the top centre of her head for cultural purposes. The woman got introduced to the group and then introduced herself as Starfire. She then said, "There isn't much time. A group of the 'Dragon Men' have been spotted down to the south. They landed two nights ago and are headed straight for us." Ghost then stared at the mountainous peaks to the west and said, "Let's go to the mountains." The woman asked, "What? Are you mad? There's a village near the bottom of valley. If they figure that out they surely kill them all." Ghost then said, "They've been built for cold ice and snow. Yet they know not of our spring." The woman nodded and then the group headed out west. As they passed on through the forest, they climbed a large waterfall, passed by large rocky cliffs and snow covered valleys near the pass to the mountains.

Then came the next challenge. Night had just occurred and the moon was starting to peak up on the horizon. Ghost then said, "It's getting late we should get some sleep." Riku then said pointing to a hole, "How about this cave over here?" Ghost went in first into the dark deep hole of the mountain pass and then the group heard a roar as Ghost got pushed back out of the cave. It was a grizzly bear at about seven feet in height. The mighty beast roared and the group got out their weapons and Sora, Riku, and Mickey transformed into the armoured selves. The mighty beast ran up and swiped Riku with its massive paw towards a tree, while Mickey jumped on its back to try and tame the beast. Sora then tried to tackle the bear at its chest, but it smacked Sora in the head and knocked him unconscious. The bear then struggled and shook Mickey off as well, but before he could kill him, Ghost tapped the ground and got the bear's attention. He then knelt down showing it respect and then Starfire screamed to him saying, "Look out. He's coming!!" As the bear jumped on him, Ghost raised his Sword up and pierced the bear with quick tenacity. He then pulled out the sword and revealed all of the bloody guts that it had.

As Sora and the others came to, they were all huddled around a campfire, and Starfire and the others were huddled together with them. As Sora tried to stand up, he felt a sharp pain in his neck. Ghost then wrapped a fur made of cougar around Sora and said, "You need your rest. You just about got killed by that beast. If it hit you in the chest you would have been dead by now." Sora then said, "But what about you guys? Are you alright?" Ghost nodded and then pointed to the others who were sound asleep like babies. Ghost continued, "You need to think with your head instead of your heart all the time. It could end up getting you killed." Sora nodded and then got some rest thinking, 'What does he mean by that? I don't let my emotions get the better of me? Do I?' As Sora pondered this he soon dosed off into a deep, quiet sleep.

The next day he awoke and they were all tied up, all that is except for Ghost and Starfire. When Sora looked up he saw they were in the middle of a huge dense thicket of the forest and noticed that a bunch of men in dark black armour and black helmed helmets were surrounding them on all corners of the pass. Mickey then said, "I should've known they would have been crafty navigators." Sora then said, "So those are the Vikings. They seem a little darker than they're portrayed on TV." Mickey then replied, "Of course they are Sora. This world was taken over by Darkness. It just happened the other night before while we dealt with that bear." Then one of the Vikings appeared in front of Ghost and was short all on his own. He had a brown thick beard, his face was pale, and his armour was as strong as titanium. He wielded a giant axe roughly the size of Leon, and when he laughed, it sounded like a demon was there.

He then said something in Norse and no one could understand, but Ghost. Ghost said, "Their leader, Gunnar, said that I have pitiful friends and they said that you guys are really weak if they captured you so easy. He also said that you guys might be helping the 'savages' as they call them." Sora then said, "Oh they're ones to talk." Then the Viking leader snapped his fingers and then a little native aboriginal girl was brought into the centre all tied up and she was crying for her dear life. Sora didn't know how, but when he saw that girl, he thought of Kairi all tied up and before they all knew it, one of the Vikings then killed the girl and started to laugh with pleasure. Sora yelled to the top of his lungs and then transformed into his armoured self and freed everyone else. Shortly afterward, the group saw a purple demon appear and kill four of the fifty Vikings that were there surrounding them. Kazuya then said, "This should be the last of those brutes. Once they're gone, the Vikings will cease to exist at all." As the group stared at the mighty brutes, Sora began panting heavily and then ran in and sliced five Vikings heads off clean. The group joined him in the fighting, but Sora on the other hand was slaughtering his victims and awkwardly seemed as if he was enjoying it. He kept on chanting vengeance and the group then tried pinning Sora down as the last five Vikings and the leader remained. Sora then yelled as he struggled to get free of Yuffie and Tidus' arms, "What are you doing? I'm not the enemy they are!!" Yuffie then slapped Sora and said, "You need to get a hold of yourself Sora!! You're turning into a destructive maniac!!" Sora then said, "You saw them kill that girl!! They had no right doing that!! What'd she ever do to them?" Mickey then killed a Viking and backflipped to Sora and said, "You're acting no better than them Sora. If you want to fight, then try and do it with some sanity would ya? You're supposed to be leading us as best you can." Sora nodded and then took a deep breath in and out and then ran off to finish the rest of the Vikings off.

Gunnar was the only one who remained, and he just took out Donald, Goofy, Jiminy Cricket and Tidus. He then knocked Yuffie out cold and laughed as he said some more Norse. He essentially said that he was facing weak mongrels and that they weren't worthy to be in his presence. Sora then ran up with Ghost and Kazuya and a barrier closed all three of the warriors off. Kazuya used his demonic powers which slightly weakened the tyrant, but did no good overall. Ghost slashed pieces of his boots and cut his legs, but the beast was too powerful. Sora then tried to do an Aerial attack and jumped into the air and tried forming an arrow. Yet Gunnar knew this little trick and grabbed Sora's right leg and smacked him into Ghost. Ghost lay unconscious from the impact and Sora was pinned down and Gunnar cut up Sora pretty bad. He slashed his arms, then the legs, his chest and then even his neck. Even his armour was starting cracking from all the cutting attacks. Then Sora heard a dark voice say, "Use my power boy!! Then this fight will be all yours." Sora asked, "Who said that?" The dark voice said, "If you want to live do as I say now!!" Sora nodded and then a dark presence took over his body and engulfed it in Darkness. The being then slashed Gunnar and with the help of Kazuya stuck Ghost's sword through his heart and sliced off his head.

As the group awoke, they saw Sora was possessed and Kazuya then chanted a spell to remove the demon and it turned out to be Darkness. Sora then said, "You!! You did all of that?" Darkness laughed and said, "How pitiful. You still are quite the dreaded pawn my boy. I was the one who brought the Vikings here. I was the one who made them slaughter hundreds. Yet the girl who was just here, who you imagined to be Kairi, that thought was all yours despite how she got killed. But then again that's why you can't control your emotions." The group stared at Darkness and Kazuya then said, "You'd best leave Darkness, before I pummel you into dust!!" Darkness then disappeared and said in an echoey voice, "Go ahead and try Kazuya!! Victor's the only one who can kill me!! And even with that I have found a loop hole."

Sora then stared at his hands and thought, 'Oh no!! He was actually inside me!! All like Ghost said. I let my emotions get the better of me. Had Kazuya not chanted the spell like he did, he would've taken me over for good.' The group said their goodbyes to Ghost and Starefire as they saved another world again and then left through the gate back to Radiant Garden. Yet when they did return, they found that everything was in turmoil. There were dark beings everywhere and many people's hearts were being captured and used as energy for their evil purpose. Kazuya then said, "Oh no!! It's worse than I thought!! Darkness has literally sucked out every last drop of energy this world has to offer. Without it, the world will cease to exist." Mickey then asked, "So how long do we have?" Kazuya replied while closing his eyes, "Let's just say it takes me longer to get a bite to eat." Riku then said, "Well that's just great now what do we do?" Kazuya snapped his fingers and the barrier at the Sanshobi gate disappeared.

He then said, "I'll go and do what I can here. There are probably more people in danger here and they'll need assistance. While I hold these guys at bay, you all need to find a way to put an end to Victor's little scheme once and for all. You got me?" They all nodded and then Kazuya flew away in the blink of an eye to the east. Then a dark being appeared from a dark portal and with his yellow sinister eyes glared at Sora, Darkness said, "My how the tables have turned little ones. I hold all the cards now and there's nothing you can do about it." Sora yelled, "That's what you think Darkness!!" The being laughed sinisterly and said, "You fool. I see you didn't listen to me back in Darkland Forest. You're dark hateful emotions only make me more powerful. Because of your dark hate for me and your anger and sorrow, I continue to get more powerful." Sora then said, "I don't care how powerful you are. The light will always succeed against the wicked." Darkness yelled, "Silence!!" as he summoned a giant black ball of darkness the size of a football stadium above his head and then said, "With one final blast, this entire world will be gone as will the rest of you. I hope the heavens treat you better than I did." As the group braced themselves, they saw a huge white barrier appear around them and it was Merlin, Leon, Aerith, and Cid.

Merlin then said, "There isn't much time Sora. You all must go now!!" Tidus then asked, "But what about you guys?" Aerith replied, "We'll buy you guys some time. For now though, you have to leave!!" Mickey and Yuffie then ran into the Sanshobi gate which had a fireball for a symbol, followed by Goofy and Donald, then Jiminy Cricket and Tidus. As Riku prepared to go in, he saw Sora standing there and asked, "Sora you coming in or what?" Sora shook his head and said, "I'm not going. I won't leave them behind." Leon punched Sora in the left arm and said, "Don't try to be a hero Sora. Some fights aren't worth it!!" Sora then said, "You guys are in danger. I want to fight with you!!" Riku then pulled Sora by his arms and as he struggled to get free, both of the boys were sucked into the gate. As the gate closed, Darkness launched the giant black ball of darkness right at Leon, Merlin, Cid and Aerith and the white barrier covering them and when they collided an explosion happened on the face of Radiant Garden. The only thing that remained was ruin and smoke as far as the eye could see. Darkness stared into the cloud of smoke and then said, "I'll get you yet Sora. You'll see!!" As he said this, he disappeared into another dark portal, leaving Radiant Garden in its sorrowful black ruin.

(The next few chapters of the story will be called The Final Battle and will of course be set into parts since there is so much being covered here. I would suggest listening to some music to this since this world is a little depressing in the way I've tried to describe it. I would also prepare for the song 'Trepak-Russian Dance' as well since I will be putting in a double bracket. That means there will be a major event about to occur. So until then stay tuned.)


	43. Chapter 42: The Final Battle, Part 1

**_The Final Battle (Part 1)_**

As the group entered into Sanshobi, they heard an explosion just as they left Radiant Garden. Sanshobi was like the World that Never Was in a sense that it had tall buildings and was filled with parks and city districts. The buildings were black as coal and the sky was as grey as smoke from a long campfire. The group found themselves in a park, except the grass was yellow and the trees were dead looking along with everything else. It seemed like a ghost town. Sora then punched the ground and others just cried while sitting on a bench. Riku then said, "Poor Merlin. Poor Leon and Anastasia. They're all gone." Mickey then looked to the grey sky of Sanshobi and said, "They're not gone Riku." Sora then grabbed Mickey and asked while crying, "How do you know that? Radiant Garden's gone. Darkness has won. You even said it yourself. First the darkness claims a world and then its inhabitants. Then there's an explosion of the world into nothingness." Mickey then calmed the poor boy down and hugged him. Mickey then said, "I know they aren't gone. Merlin and Leon alone are too powerful to let some random guy try and claim his heart. Now listen to me fellas. I know it's tough. Things are always going to be tough. But if we don't learn to cope with it now, we will never be able to move on. Once the threat is gone, the worlds will go back to their original selves."

Then they heard a clap coming from the very end of the park itself to their right. He walked closer to them and pulled down his hood revealing himself to be Ceir. The tall Spaniard accented man then said, "Something troubling you little Niño?" Sora then angrily looked at Ceir and said, "You. Because of you and every last hooded guy in a suit we lost our friends back on Radiant Garden." Ceir just laughed out of pity and said, "How disappointing for then. So then you feel it being our fault then?" Sora nodded and took out his keyblade and transformed into his armoured suit. Ceir then shook his head and said, "Very well then senor. We shall do battle until the other is dead or no more. I should warn you though, I have gotten a lot stronger since the last time we fought." Sora then said angrily, "Let's just get this over with!!" As the battle started Sora made the first move with a huge amount of momentum in the Sword of Light. He clashed with the twin bladed spear and hit it left, then right, left, right, and then Sora jumped and stretched himself out in the form of an arrow. He then spun himself around in circles and swiftly hit his target bang on with extreme accuracy. Ceir then thought, 'The little Niño is using his anger to do the talking. The others will want to know about this.' He then tapped a button on his communicator sending out a signal. Ceir then jumped behind Sora and pushed his spear into the ground. He then propelled himself clockwise and kicked Sora hard in the back. Sora flew across the park and then came running back whacking the twin bladed spear with everything he had. He hit the top end, then the bottom and Ceir just kept on flinging his spear from one side to another in defense. Sora then yelled, "Are you going to fight or are you going act like a coward!!"

Ceir then said, "Very well. If you want to have a fight, so be it!!" Ceir then flung his spear in circles and scraped Sora and his suit two hundred times before he de-morphed. Sora had cuts and bruises so deep it looked like a tractor ran over him. Ceir then stepped on his chest and pushed him deep into the earth. The group gasped and tried to go and help him, but a barrier blocked them from doing any such thing. Ceir held his spear above Sora and said, "You foolish little boy. I always wondered why the master had such high hopes of fighting you. In my opinion you don't deserve to fight for a girl if you can't even help yourself." Sora then started to glow and then an aura appeared around his body and blasted Ceir into the sky. Sora transformed once more into his armoured self and jumped into the air. He accelerated really high and grabbed Ceir and then slashed his body ten times and then broke his spear in two thus making it dissolve. Sora then punched him launching him towards the ground and then cut, slice and diced and totally ripped apart the hooded suit as he hit the ground creating a four metre wide crater. Sora then stood over his body and yelled, "Now tell us where Castle Oblivion is or else!!" Ceir laughed and said while spitting out blood, "Very well little Niño. Since I have no life to give anymore I shall speak. Go into the town square. From there you must take a right and go through a solid metal bridge. At the end of it should be a transporter. That transporter will take you directly to the castle itself." Sora then said, "There. That wasn't so hard now was it?" Ceir closed his eyes and his head tilted to his right side as he dissolved revealing Z-Man. Z-Man then said before gasping out of air, "I'm sorry master…I have failed…you!!" Z-Man then dissolved away and in the remains of the hooded suit was a page to Anastasia's journal. It was section # 6. Then Sora said, "Well Jiminy Cricket, it's time for you to go and claim that page. Now go!!" The group then stood in utter fear and stepped back away from Sora. Even Jiminy Cricket was headed their way as well, but Sora literally grabbed Jiminy Cricket and said, "Come on and go get it." Jiminy Cricket then grabbed it as fast as he could and gave the page to Sora.

The group started to walk away and Sora yelled, "Hey, just where do you think you're going?" Riku said, "We're tired of this Sora. You know ever since we entered Darkland Forest, you've changed. Not for better either. Those Vikings got to you I bet." Tidus then said, "It's not the Vikings Riku. It's his brain. He's lost his marbles." Sora then got a mad look on his face and asked, "What are you talking about? I'm still myself. I'm still me." Yuffie then punched Sora and said, "No Sora, you aren't you. You took out Ceir like he was an enemy of the law. He's a human being as well or was before you got rid of him." Sora then said, "Yuffie they're made of paper!!" Riku then punched Sora and said, "Well you killed a man Sora!! Are you happy now?!? Does that help us bring back our friends, save Kairi or let alone Radiant Garden?" Sora then cried and said, "But Riku, I didn't mean…" Riku then looked to the ground and clouds soon gathered. A storm was coming. Riku then said, "Look Sora. I'm sorry about what I said. I guess we're all a little scared." Sora then yelled, "No Riku. You were right. I killed someone. How can I live with myself?" Mickey then said tried to calm Sora down, "Listen Sora we'll figure this out together, but you have to calm down." Sora then said, "No, it's not alright your majesty. Don't you see? I'm literally tearing the group apart like this." Mickey then said, "So what are you saying Sora?" Sora then replied as he walked off to the left side of the park with his hands in pockets, "I'm saying I need to figure some things out before I can go with you guys and rescue everyone else." Riku tried running up to cheer his comrade up, but this time Mickey held out his hand in front of him. Riku then asked, "What are you doing your majesty? Sora's getting away." Mickey then said, "I know Riku." Riku then asked, "So what are we doing? We can't just possibly let him do this." Yuffie then added on, "There could be more heartless out there. For all we know Sora could be walking into a trap if he goes alone." Mickey then said, "If Sora can't have confidence in himself, then there's no way he can trust going on the venture with us. He needs to understand that no matter what we'll always support him through thick and thin. In case you've forgotten Yuffie, that's what a friend is for." Yuffie nodded, but looked to the ground in sorrow along with the rest of the group as they walked off to the right towards the town square. Mickey then thought as he looked back towards him before he disappeared into the raining storm, 'Be careful out there Sora. This world is much more deadly than it was without Victor's presence.'

As the group (excluding Sora) made it to the town square, which was essentially a white fountain in the centre of a huge traffic circle. They then saw paths going off in three directions. The path to the right clearly led back around to the park, so that was off their list, but the other two were still a tongue twister. Mickey then said, "I knew Ceir lied to us. Take a right my foot. That path goes back the other way." Tidus then said, "Well where do we go then?" "Perhaps I can be of some assistance.", said a German accented man. The group looked up and on one of the skyscrapers was a man in a hooded suit. He pulled down his hood to reveal a man who looked like Luxord, except his hair was slightly shorter and his mustache was a little more trimmed as well, but other than that they both looked alike. He spoke with a German accent once more, "So we meet again Riku." Riku got out his keyblade and transformed into his armoured self and took out the Sword of Darkness. "Attm, I can see you guys are getting rarer and rarer to find. What's the matter? Did we get rid of you all?" Attm transported himself in front of Riku and took his Longsword. It was covered in a dense fog around its sides this time, which could mean only one thing. Attm then said, "I hope you're ready. Because I have gotten more powerful than you know my little friend."

Riku clashed swords with Attm and they both pushed off each other without a moment's hesitation. Riku ran up towards him with his sword raised above his head and Attm ducked and slashed Riku's stomach. Attm then said, "Tsk-tsk-tsk, you little fool, you left yourself wide open for attack. That was a big mistake." Riku then held his chest and saw a tiny scrape of blood, but licked it off and clashed swords with the tyrant once more. Attm then pointed his sword into the sky and lightning then came down onto Riku with ease. He got barbequed like a steak on a grill five times before he fell to his knees with Attm laughing. "So pathetic. You can't even handle that new power of mine. Let's see how you handle this."

Attm teleported towards Riku and slashed his undefended knelt body five times before he collapsed and de-morphed. Attm stood over Riku's body and said, "How disappointing. I really thought you had potential boy. But I can see you're just like the rest of them. You are a weak little man with a toy. That is quite a mockery of a warrior indeed." As Attm started to walk away, Riku then started to get up and yelled, "Wait. We're not done yet." Attm then said, "Don't make me laugh. If you can't even fight like a warrior, what point is there to continuing?" Riku then said, "There are lots of reasons. One of them is to protect those you love. Secondly, you need to prove yourself most of the time when you do. In my case, I fight so I can rise up to the occasion, when things look bleak. Sora always did use that when he fought the heartless. He always fought with a good reason in mind to help others. He never did think about being # 1. That's who I strive to be." Attm then replied, "We shall see if it helps you then."

Attm teleported towards Riku and clashed with his sword once more, but this time Riku pushed off against his mighty sword. He then hit Attm's sword, once twice, thrice, four times, five times, and then a sixth time. He ducked when Attm tried to hit him from the side and rolled to the right when he tried a slash vertically to the ground. Riku went under Attm's legs and then cut him at his back. Attm then cut Riku's left leg, but Riku kept on slashing at his back bit by bit. Riku then jumped up high and then threw his sword from the air as if it were a spear and it went right through Attm's defending Longsword and through his heart. Attm dropped his sword and it dissolved into dust. Attm then fell to his knees and Riku landed right in front of his face. Riku then knelt down and asked, "So how am I now?" Attm then said, "You are a true warrior in my books lad. Now then, those two paths in the centre and on the left both lead to Castle Oblivion, but only one of them is safe. I won't lie to you since you are a brave and noble warrior. The one on the left is the safest rout, but it is the longest." Riku then said, "Aren't they all." Attm then fell to the ground and dissolved into dust revealing section # 3. Riku then said, "You were a good challenge Attm. I thank you for making me stay focused the entire time." Riku then headed off towards the left path as did the rest of the group. The whole time it was a leading into a huge white fielded countryside and near a cliffside they saw a rickety bridge that lead to an elevator on the other side. They took it up to find themselves on an island with a giant metallic bridge, like Ceir said it'd be, heading for the castle and in front of them Sora was doing battle with Kered, with a giant barrier blocking them off from assisting him.

As Sora walked off, he found himself down a straight path through a beat up part of Sanshobi. It had boarded up doors and windows, there was litter everywhere and what was worse there was graffiti on the walls and on the roads making it seem like a back alley in a Spiderman movie. As he walked through he then saw his only option was to take a left and there he saw Riku and the gang disappear, but he didn't see which way they went in the town square. This was because he came from the right path that lead towards the town square and he automatically headed to the closest path which was at the centre. He soon found himself on a very long and very wide bridge that was about five to sixty feet in length and width. As the rain had stopped pouring, he kept on walking through puddles on the cold metallic bridge itself. He was then pursued by heartless behind and in front of him. He used his keyblade and slashed some in front of him, and then went for the ones behind him. He kept on doing so until he felt a cold breeze give him 'goosebumps'. He then kept walking on the bridge bit by bit, and step by step. He then saw Castle Oblivion right up ahead and then thought, 'Well that was pretty easy. It almost seems like Victor wants us to find him and fight him.' As Sora took another step forward, he heard footsteps coming from in front of him. There was fog up ahead and from it came a man in a hooded suit.

The man pulled down his hood to reveal a man who looked like Xemnas. Sora then said, "Looks like you're the last one Kered." The British accented man asked, "How could you tell?" Sora then said, "Well the due fact my friends went off from the townsquare without a fight from what I saw, the fact I killed Ceir and took his page, and the due fact I happened to meet you so quickly while traveling in this world, it makes sense that we finally would meet again so soon if you were the last of those hooded guys." Kered then took out his blackened rapier and scraped it across the ground. "Well seeing as how you're this close to meeting the master, why not face his right hand man? I will give you taste of what to expect before the very end of your life boy!!" Kered then teleported in the blink of an eye and caught Sora off guard and slashed his shirt twice. He then kicked Sora about ten times in mid air and then Sora transformed into his armoured self to buy himself more time. He quickly took out his Sword of Light and then clashed with Kered's blackened rapier. They slashed at each other's swords with precision and extreme accuracy. Sora hit his sword left, then right, then he aimed for the feet and then did an uppercut with the Sword of Light. Kered limboed and dodged it and then hit Sora's legs from underneath.

They both fell and Sora hit the ground first and did a backflip giving him a barrier to protect himself against Kered's aerial strike he launched towards the ground. Sora was landed on his back and quickly stood up as Kered then tried to raise his sword and bring it back down with a quick thump on Sora's body. Sora back flipped again, narrowly missing Kered's mighty steel as it came down towards him, and went on the defense end blocking every and any hit Kered put on his sword. Kered then stepped on the Sword of Light with his foot and sliced Sora's chest. He then karate kicked him to the ground and then raised his sword once more. Sora then stood up quickly and then protected himself by raising the Sword of Light up from its left side to its right and held it up as Kered's rapier hit the centre of the sword. The impact was so powerful sparks actually started to appear creating electricity between the swords. Kered said, "You must be troubled aren't you Sora?" Sora then asked, "What would make you say that?" "Oh please. I can see it in your eyes. Everyone who battles like you are doing right now clearly has had a problem."

Sora started to cry and Kered said, "You'll never defeat me, if you can't even overcome your troubles boy. I guarantee your sword won't hold out forever. It will break really soon if you don't react quickly enough." Then Sora heard voices he turned and behind him were his friends, Riku, Mickey, Yuffie, Tidus, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy Cricket. They tried to enter but there was a barrier ten feet behind him. Sora then stood up and pushed Kered backward as his buddies started to cheer loudly. Sora said, "You know what. Maybe I am not the best fighter there is. Heck I probably suck using a sword anyway since I do get somewhat emotional. But I do have something you guys will never have in a million years. My friends are my strength. There's no question about that."

Sora then took his Sword of Light by the handle and raced forward going on the offensive. Kered still kicked Sora about two times, but Sora then rebounded the second time and punched Kered in the chin. He then raced underneath him and uppercut him with the greatest amount of momentum he could muster up in the slick sword of his. He then jumped up and slashed Kered's body some more in mid-air and then pierced his sword through the chest. As Sora pulled the Sword of Light and saw Kered with his eyes barely open, he coughed up a tiny bit of blood and said, "Very good Sora. You've finally fought the demons out of yourself. That's good to hear." Sora then said, "I didn't want it to be this way. If there was any other way…" Kered then replied, "No there isn't. We were created for one purpose and that was to take over worlds and dispose of any threats to our master. Now that we've all deceased as I soon will be, that rule is null and void. Listen Sora look over there." Kered raised his right hand toward the fog and it dispersed as did the barrier ten feet to fifteen away from themselves. It revealed a giant white castle the size of ten skyscrapers piled on top of each other.

"It is at the top floor of the castle that our master is waiting for you. Be warned though, getting to the top of the castle will be hard work even for you and your friends. Be careful too, I spotted Darkness here as well. If anything he might absorb this world next." Sora nodded and then said, "I will." As the group caught up and Sora started to head off towards the castle, Kered caught Sora's pant leg and Sora turned to talk to him again. Kered said one final time with his British accent, "I hope to meet you again Sora. Maybe in another life time we could be allies, comrades fighting for a common goal." Sora nodded and hugged Kered. It was the least he could do, since he was starting to act nice. Sora then said, "I'd like that Kered." As Kered closed his eyes and dissolved, Sora couldn't help, but cry a little almost as if he lost a friend in battle. The last page to Anastasia's journal was revealed. It was the very first page that started the whole adventure: section # 1. As Sora put the page into his pocket, Mickey and the group hugged him and then Sora said, "I'm sorry I acted like a jerk you guys. Back in the park, I didn't mean what I said."

Mickey raised his hand and then replied, "No sense beating ourselves up over spilt milk now Sora. You did what you had to do to be a good leader. You were only concerned about everyone else's well being. I saw it in Victor as well. In some cases he had to give up the friendships he later developed in high school to protect his friends from harm. Now then speaking of which, let's go. The moment of truth awaits." The group nodded and then ran towards Castle Oblivion. They then opened the ten foot tall doors and as they entered inside, they closed sharply behind them as if it were a haunted house itself.


	44. Chapter 43: The Final Battle, Part 2

**_The Final Battle (Part 2)_**

As the group entered into Castle Oblivion and as the door closed sharply behind them, they noticed that the old emblems and colours of Organization XIII were replaced by European paintings of Rome, Paris, London, Berlin, Moscow, Vienna, Lisbon, Madrid, and other famous cities. The entire castle was covered in expense drapes and had a nice red/yellow carpeting run up from the lobby room up the stairs. Mickey then saw a torch on the ground and then said, "Now who would go and leave a torch in the middle of nowhere? I mean this carpeting is Parisian." Yuffie then said, "Probably the same people who decided to high tail it out of here. This place gives me the creeps." The group then focused on the task at hand and noticed the stairs going up around in huge circles and protruding up into the tall fortress itself. So without hesitation, the group climbed the stairs while looking at what other changes Victor had made. The castle was very dark as well. The once lit Castle of the Organization was no more and had been replaced by an eerie dark aura covering the entire environment around them. Tidus then said, "Sure is spooky around here. Not even a crow would like sticking around here." Mickey then said, "This dark aura I know isn't Victor's doing. He doesn't have that kind of power to produce something as terrifying as this. It has to be Darkness."

As the group climbed even higher for the next few hours, a dark figure appeared suddenly and captured Yuffie. Donald then asked, "Hey has anyone seen Yuffie?" Goofy then said, "Well that's an easy one she's right…" As he turned and pointed behind him, the group noticed there was nothing but dark stairs behind them. "…behind me." Riku then said, "Let's not panic okay. I'm sure that she found a shortcut somewhere and didn't want to slow us down that's all." Sora then thought, 'If you say so.' The group climbed higher and higher noticing each room stretched for miles across each balcony and section of the castle itself. Goofy then asked, "I wonder how Victor could stand to live in a place like this, let the rest of his hooded crew too?" Donald then said, "I don't know and now isn't a good time Goofy." Goofy then said, "Sorry. It was just an honest question." Eventually the group got at least halfway up the castle, but then a dark being appeared and took Jiminy Cricket out of Sora's left pant pocket. Sora said, "Hey Riku watch it. I know it's dark, but that doesn't mean I swing that way." Riku, who was behind Mickey who was behind Sora, then asked, "What are you talking about I'm right here and Mickey's been trying to strike a match on that torch we found down at the lobby." Sora then said, "If you guys didn't touch my leg, then…"Sora noticed his left pant pocket open and Jiminy Cricket was missing.

Sora then said, "There goes Jiminy Cricket. How do you explain that Sherlock?" Riku then said, "It's easy. Maybe he jumped from stair to stair just now and is waiting for us right now." Sora then thought, 'You do that Riku. You do that. As for myself I'm gonna keep a close eye out for whoever's doing that.' As they climbed higher and higher, they all noticed a light coming the top of the castle and decided to run towards it. They kept running and running and running. Goofy then noticed that each of the paintings were losing their paint and colour and said, "Looks like those paintings are losing their colour. Some of them look blank even." Riku noticed the blank dull listless paintings as well and said, "You're right. There's no picture at all in those paintings. It's as if the light is destroying the paint." Donald then quacked a tiny bit and Goofy looked behind him and then said, "Oh no!! Donald's gone too." Sora then said, "Well Riku, how do you explain that?" Riku then said, "Okay fine. I guess I can admit it. I kind of feel like something is in here too watching our every move. But I didn't want to make you guys worry that's all." Tidus then said, "This place is darker than a Transylvanian cave, is as spooky as it gets and what's more our friends have mysteriously disappeared one by one. I think it's safe to say we're all scared to kingdom come Riku." Mickey then said, "All right enough of that!! Panicking won't bring Yuffie, Donald, or Jiminy Cricket back. Now let's huddle together so that way if the thing does appear we can be ready for it."

The group nodded and then huddled close together so that they could protect each other in case of an attack. Tidus heard the classic jingle of an ice cream truck and said, "Oh man what good timing!!" He then ran off and Riku said, "Tidus no!!" They heard Tidus then scream as he got captured as well leaving the remaining group terrified and scared. Mickey then said to calm the group, "Listen we have to keep moving. Victor is going to keep getting more powerful unless we put a stop to his onslaught once and for all. Now who's all with me?" Sora then said, "I am." Riku waited two seconds and then said, "Looks like I am as well." Goofy then said after Riku, "I am." Mickey then transformed into his armoured self as did Riku and Sora and the group charged up the stairs into the room filled with light. Yet before they could they saw Goofy getting carried away by a dark being. Sora ran back and grabbed Goofy's hands and Sora then said, "Goofy whatever you do don't let go." Goofy then said, "I'll try not to Sora." Sora tugged hard at Goofy and the dark being tugged harder to pull him into the darkness. Mickey and Riku then joined Sora and tried to grab him as well, but the dark being was too powerful and eventually Goofy was lost in the giant blanket of darkness. Sora then punched the ground hard as did Riku to the door, but Mickey who kept his cool then said, "You guys best look around you." They did as the king said, and all around them was a gigantic library. There was nothing, but books of all kinds hidden on different kinds of tall, small, brown, black or even glitter filled shelves. (Kinda reminds me of KH when Maleficent had the castle in Radiant Garden which was Hollow Bastion at the time) All three of them walked around in circles before realizing they were lost and there was no way around the maze of random books and bits of knowledge. Riku then took a book down and smacked it on the ground. Riku yelled to the heavens, "Hey Victor. Show yourself you coward. If you want a fight then take me spare everyone else, but take me instead!!" Mickey then smacked Riku and yelled, "Get a hold of yourself Riku!! I know things look bleak. Heck I too feel mad that Victor has Donald Goofy and the others captured, but yelling and threatening him won't bring them back to us." Riku then said, "I should though. I mean we are at the lowest we could get. Our friends are gone, Radiant Garden has been taken over, Victor has total control over the universe, and we're lost in a library. How could things get any worse?" Sora then saw a hole in the spot where Riku pulled the book out from. While Mickey and Riku argued, He moved the shelf and then whistled to Mickey and the white haired teen. Sora then said, "I think we'll manage from here." Riku gave Sora a noogie on his head and the group continued onward inside the giant hole. As they did Mickey picked up a piece of paper he found in the exact spot that Riku pulled the book out from and read through it. It had all the names of the people in hooded suits that they fought and defeated. Sora and Riku read through it and then Mickey put the list in Sora's left pant pocket. They kept on going through and through the dark cave until they came to the very top of Castle Oblivion. They were at the spot where Sora, Riku and Mickey witnessed Ansem the Wise use his experimental devise in thwarting Xemnas' plans for using Kingdom Hearts a year earlier. The group got silent and then Mickey said, "No use strolling down memory lane. We have a job to do and by darn it we're going to do it."

Mickey, Riku and Sora then stumbled upon the very door to which they went after Xemnas for the final fight. As they went through it though, they were in a very dark room to which Mickey got captured and Sora and Riku were left alone to battle Victor on their own. Sora and Riku although were panicking a little decided to keep moving. They could barely see anything and it seemed as if Castle Oblivion was a lot bigger than it had been a year earlier. They then stumbled upon a graveyard of the sort. Sora then said, "Seems kinda creepy. Don't ya think Riku?" Riku then said, "Yeah this does seem kinda weird. Wait, do you see what I see Sora?" Sora then looked at the graveyard and then said, "Yeah. There's…" There were fourteen tombstones and on each of them was a number 1-14. Underneath each of the numbers, were names of random people. Riku then said, "Wait a minute. Hey Sora do you have the list on you?"

Sora then said, "Yeah. Here you go." Riku then opened the piece of paper up and then saw each of the tomb stones and differentiated them:

-1: Kered - Derek

-2: Daynebr - Brayden

-3: Attm - Matt

-4: Lained - Daniel

-5: Ohsj - Josh

-6: Ceir - Eric

-7: Sirk - Kris

-8: Taylcon - Clayton

-9: Nai - Ian

-10: Ehalcim - Michael

-11: Laxe - Alex

-12: Oshuja - Joshua

-13: Obireb - Robbie

-14: Reylt - Tyler

Sora and Riku then dropped the piece of paper and then saw a light on the other side of the grave yard and headed right for it. As Sora reached out for it though, he saw Riku getting captured by the dark being as well and then Sora grabbed Riku and held on as best he could. Riku told Sora, "Sora you have to go on without me." Sora replied, "Never. I won't do it. You can't make me." Riku then said, "You gotta do it Sora. We all know Kairi's waiting for you. Go get her tiger." Sora then started to cry and said, "Riku…no!!" Riku let go of Sora's hands and he was swept away by the dark being into nothingness. Sora began to cry and with the tears he shed, the light that the boys saw began to grow until it was a giant door: The Door to Light. Yet it wasn't the same door that they had shut two years ago back with the King long ago. This door was much bigger by about five feet, It had darkened windows near the top and there was gold shading on its hinges as well.

Sora opened the door and ran through into the light. There he saw a devastating sight. He was inside a dining room. There he saw a boy in a white hooded suit sitting down drinking tea to a nice turkey feast along with salads and cookies and ice cream were on the table as well to complete the banquet of food. Sora was standing on a bear rug underneath him and there was nothing, but well designed carpentry and drapes fit for a king. Sora took out his Sword of Light and his keyblade and then Victor dropped his tea to the table. Victor then said, "Well done Sora. I admit you weren't at all what I expected at the beginning, but afterwards you sure did great coming this far. I am so impressed. I ought to reward to you." Sora then gritted his teeth and said, "How about you let Kairi and my friends go you jerk!!" "Ooo spicy hot words. Ever heard of a chill pill? You could really use one right about now." Sora then said, "What'd you do with my friends?" Victor then said, "Oh nothing. Let's just say that they won't be bothering me anytime soon. Consider it payback for killing my hooded buddies and taking their pages away like crumbs from a mouse. Now that you guys aren't a threat I can finally get to work on my Rose of Eternity."

Sora then asked, "Your Rose of Eternity?" Victor nodded and pulled down his hood. "Legend has it that if enough spiritual energy is gathered this legendary plume would be so powerful and dangerous it could destroy galaxies in wink. Here's the kicker right here. It actually spreads it's petals to a nearby planet, sucks the life out of it literally, and then the plumes go to next and the next and the next until…" Sora then replied finishing the sentence, "…until no one's left to destroy." Victor snapped his fingers and as the table disappeared he said, "Bingo. I mean no one's cared for me at all when I was growing up. So why should I care for those who tried to throw me in a gutter so long ago and leave me with nothing, but pizza crusts to eat?" Sora then said, "So Anastasia is nothing. Didn't she mean anything to you at all? You were the world to her and this is thanks you're sending her? You don't deserve a girl like that." Victor shed a tear and then rubbed it out. Sora thought, 'Did I just saw what I think I did?' Victor laughed and then said, "You're too kind. But I mean hey, Anastasia's an angel. She can just live on Ailiana. That's the one place I can't destroy. It's immortal. She's immortal. I wish I could say the same for your girl though." Sora's eyes began to water and then asked, "What do you mean? Where's Kairi?" Victor then said, "Go see for yourself." Victor snapped his fingers and then Kairi appeared in the middle of the room as did the legendary 'Rose of Eternity'. It was five feet wide and six feet tall. It was as red as fire and smelled like a calm summer breeze taking up thousands of roses into the sky.

As Sora looked at Kairi and held her, she was as cold and lifeless as death itself. Her body was grey in colour and she looked peaceful as if she were sleeping. Sora cried and then said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't there to save you!!" Victor chuckled and then said, "Best give it up. She's gone. There's nothing you can do for her now." Sora then stood up and lay Kairi's body on the ground and then said, "Not unless I kill you myself. You're going to pay for what you did to Kairi!!" Victor then said, "I'm right here man. Anytime you're ready." Sora rubbed away his tears and then said, "Let's end this." Victor then took off his hooded suit and revealed himself in white armour from head to toe. He took out his transparent sword and then said, "Finally, after all this time of searching and conflict. It comes down to this… Sora vs. Victor!!" As Victor said this the two boys stood their ground and awaited the first move of their final target.


	45. Chapter 44: The Final Battle, Part 3

**_The Final Battle (Part 3)_**

Sora ran up and scraped the ground with his keyblade and then clashed it with Victor's transparent sword. He then said, "Is this a joke? I thought we were fighting, not trying to play games." Sora replied, "This is no joke Victor." Victor slashed Sora's keyblade down and kicked him to the ground saying, "Well then…act like it's not. You're not a good actor you know." Then Sora heard some music in the background. It was soft and gentle at first, but it was rough and tough by the near end of it. Victor chuckled a little and said, "Hope you don't mind, but since we are in a nice dining room why not a bit of music to go with it."

((Now for what you've all been waiting for. It's the showdown of the century between Sora and Victor. Now using the original works of the Trepak-Russian Dance. I would naturally suggest listening to this throughout the rest of the fight, but you can listen to other music if you want too, I don't know. I kind of feel like I'm right there when I do listen to music within a fight scene. (Good stuff too, not chump's work to make kiddy shows on Treehouse.)))

Sora noticed the entire room go black around him. The European room had been replaced by a dark endless abyss. Sora then said, "I take it you don't like classic European stuff huh?" Victor asked, "This isn't any ordinary place Sora. What you're looking at is my mind. I call it the 'Inner Realm'. I would change its colour but we're in the middle of something here. Now are we here to talk or are we gonna fight? I'm sick of these games man." Victor used his agility to catch Sora off guard and sliced a piece of his shirt off right around his left sleeve. Victor stood in front of Sora with his hands over his sword in a straight up posture and his eyes closed. "Legend has it that the Triads of Prime City would lay on over a thousand or more cuts to their enemies and avoid major arteries so as to prolong their suffering for a little longer. You just received your first cut." Sora then transformed into his armoured self and then took out the Sword of Light. "A second sword? Man you must be desperate Sora." Victor picked Sora up and threw him to the ground. Yet Sora landed on his hands and did a back flip to avoid impact.

Victor then thought as he landed on the ground as well, 'Very impressive. This guy does have potential after all. Maybe he can beat Darkness. Or at least give me time to come up with a strategy.' Victor then sliced his transparent sword against Sora's Sword of Light and then he did it once more leading on to a series of hits coming from his left, and then his right repeatedly. Sora noticed a weak spot at Victor's legs and tried tripping him up, but Victor caught on and kicked his keyblade down into his Sword of Light so as to hold him off and capitalize on his weakness. Victor then said, "I'm impressed Sora. You actually know how fight. Unlike your nobody, you have potential." Sora then flung his sword at Victor's feet and watched him jump high into the air and said, "You know about Roxas too?" Victor replied while landing, "I do. I fought him about a year ago. I thought he was you at first, but was disappointed to find out his hair was too straight up and his face is a little more 'mature looking'." Sora then clashed his keyblade and the Sword of Light against the transparent sword angrily and said, "What's that supposed to mean?" Victor laughed a little and said, "Man, get a grip man. I've seen plenty of other guys that look like you in a way. Truth be told they too were powerful like you as well. Yet all of you are missing a key component that makes my brothers and I the rulers of the universe."

Victor then gripped Sora's neck with his transparent Sword and reached down for his left thigh. He then picked Sora up and back flipped him hard behind him. The blast was so powerful it actually left the black abyss in a field of smoke. Victor then continued, "You need concentration or you guys would call it focus. Everyone I see always puts their loved ones as their number one priority and yet ironically a villain can always hint that as a weakness and they always nearly win. The only reason the good guy wins is because a tiny miracle happens by chance. If you had the kind of odds that I had fighting, you'd need to be focused if you were to survive against your enemies." Victor picked Sora up and spun him around. Sora then did something surprising. He relaxed and then used Victor's own actions against him by using the keyblade to slice Victor's armour. The cut wasn't big or deep, but it sure got Victor focused alright.

"Good job. You gave me my first cut of the fight. Bravo. Now let's see your real power Sora." Sora raced up towards Victor and clashed once again with the transparent sword of his. Victor disappeared into a blinding light and then launched an all out assault from the air on Sora. He cut him at his right leg, punched him in his left cheek, tossed him on his back and sliced up his armour near the chest. Victor then picked Sora up once more and then used the powers of light at his command. He yelled out, "Lightning Strike" and struck Sora five times. Sora then lay on his hands and knees and Victor then asked, "Don't tell me you're giving up? We were just getting starting. In fact I've only used at least forty five percent of my power. The only one who's used more was Xehanort, but you also know this guy in his heartless form and Xemnas don't you." Sora then remembered all of the flashbacks about Victor fighting Xemnas and Xehanort and then said, "He was your friend wasn't he?" Victor then said, "It was a long time ago. People change, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. You have to learn to deal with it." Sora then asked, "Didn't it hurt though when he took off without even telling you so much where he was going?" Victor she another tear and then clashed his sword with Sora's keyblade.

Victor then replied, "I don't need advice from you. Yes of course it hurt me. I lost the only best friend I have ever had growing up in the far corners of the universe. Of course I was only a little kid no older than six when it happened. We always had crazy ideas. Oh why am I telling you this? It's none of your business." Victor then thought as Sora slashed his transparent sword away from the keyblade and tried to attack him and he back shuffled, 'Very clever little sneak. He used my own advice against me. That trick doesn't work twice though.' Victor ducked and then punched Sora's stomach hard and then transported behind him and kicked him in the back which launched him far across the abyss. He then appeared in front of him and punched him high into the air and then he transported into mid air and combined both of his hands together into a big fist and launched him down so far into the ground he made a crater the size of an elephant. Victor then said, "That's for trying to trick me. You should know better than to pull the wool over a pro's eyes. Like I always say…"

Victor then grabbed Sora as he was punched in the stomach by Sora and had another huge cut near the helmet of his armoured suit. He threw him to the ground and got on top of him and punched him four times and then threw him above his head towards the ground behind him. "Never Screw with the Master!!", Victor replied as he stood on his feet. Sora then saw Kairi and said, "Don't you even care for Anastasia? She's done so much just to find you." Victor grabbed Sora once more and put his sword towards his neck. Sora then asked smugly, "What's the matter? Can't handle the truth? You don't even like her I bet." Victor shed another and said, "That does it buddy. I've played with you, I've been fighting you right now and I have dealt with you and your pack rat buddies killing my associates. But no one and I mean no one talks about my girl." Victor then karate kicked Sora across the abyss to which started to turn white all around them. Victor then punched Sora again at his right cheek and jumped in mid air and did a twirl while whiplashing him all around his body.

Sora demorphed and then his Sword of Light got blown right out of his hands. He got up as best he could and then ran right at Victor more angry then before and tried getting at his chest. Victor however always intercepted the attacks and brushed his keyblade away and stomped on his chest. Sora then called back his keyblade in a daring instant and Victor then asked, "What? How's that possible?" Sora then slashed Victor's armoured suit again and he demorphed as well. Victor then said, "Very nice. You have surpassed Xehanort and I am at sixty percent of my power. No one has been able to that to me in my existence as I know it. Well done. Now let's finish this!!" Victor was wearing average clothes like Sora, except his shirt was black and he wore a nice shaded blue 7's jeans. What's more his shoes were black and designed similar to that of Sora's shoes, but were less rounded at the foot end.

Victor clashed his transparent sword with Sora's keyblade and they both began pushing off against each other as best they could. They both jumped high into the air and while falling to the ground sliced each other's weapons like so fast, it was like watching a swarm of bees sting a bear trying to use their honey as a free meal. Yet again, Sora's keyblade got knocked from his hands once more and when he landed Victor landed on top of him. Even as he tried reaching for the keyblade itself, Victor stomped on his hand lightly and flung his transparent sword at him as a sign of defeat. Victor then said, "This fight is over. You're strong, stubborn and full of surprises Sora. I'll give you that much, but you need to be more focused like me in the future if you expect to fight the kind of villains my brothers and I face." Sora's hand was let go and Victor smiled again, giving Sora déjà vu like he had on the World that Never Was as Victor raised his hands and twisted them around in all directions and then healed Sora and repaired his armoured suit.

As Victor began to walk away, Sora stepped in front of him and asked, "You could've killed me. Why didn't you take the chance? You won." Victor replied awkwardly with Sora staring at him in the face, "I won. So what? I'm not smarter than I was. I'm not even as powerful as my older brother. You see that's why I'm not permanent villain. I used to be because I was in command and had nothing to lose. After I killed a hero that all changed. People shunned me and hunted my brothers and I like wild dogs. They thought we were the enemy, a threat to their very way of life as they knew it. With me being a permanent hero like my brothers nowadays we always train rookies like you by fighting you and giving you all the advice we could possibly give you. When we saw that Darkness was headed for your universe, I was automatically called into action to stop him. You have no idea how many times I fought him to try and prevent him from destroying your home. I then left it up to you to save your universe because he soon left Destiny Island two years ago back for my world. I only came back because I anticipated he would come back to take over your body Sora. You and I are more alike than you know. But hey, I guess if you want go ahead. Kill me I won't even move a muscle to avoid or stop it. Call your keyblade and you decide."

(The next scene involves a particular point of a story I was told as kid. It was about a robin, a tree, a boy, a girl and a rose. Not giving too much away, but the robin did die and the girl ends up going after some rich basturd instead of the 'boy'. Either way, this next scene is dedicated to that very same story, so enjoy.)

Sora then called his keyblade to his hands and Victor stood in front of him with his eyes closed. He then stared at him and then thought, 'What am I doing? Now I'm being no better than he was. Plus he might know how to bring back Kairi and the others.' He then put his keyblade to the ground and asked Victor, "Can you bring back Kairi and the others?" Victor then said, "I guess killing me isn't on your to do list?" Sora shook his head and Victor continued. "You see those thorns around the Rose of Eternity." Sora noticed where Victor was pointing and saw a white giant rose with thorns all around it. "If you pierce you body into it and let the rose suck your blood into it, Kairi can be saved. As for the others well, your friends are back on Destiny Island and everyone I kidnapped from before are back on their own world. They are unconscious though and will stay that way until the rose is red and ripe." Sora gulped at the idea and Victor said, "It's the only way. That's other way that the Sacred Protection works. That's the one thing I heard from Anastasia's dad. He said he cried once because he said if his daughter knew about the idea of her lover having to sacrifice himself for his lover, she would've had her heart broken." Sora then thought while staring at Victor who was on the verge of tears, 'I can't blame you then. I would do the same for Kairi.'

Victor stared at the ground thinking, 'He won't do it. No one would put their life on the line like that.' He then heard a scream and looked up as Sora plunged his chest into the thorn. Victor then thought, 'Of course though I havent known Sora that long either.' The Rose of Eternity started to glow a light pink. It was the colour of a girl's lips before she kissed her lover. Victor then said, "It's not enough Sora. You have to go closer." Sora plunged his chest even more. It became pink. It was the colour of a Valentine's Day heart in all of its glory and hope. Victor then said, "You have to go closer." Sora plunged even more and as he screamed the rose started to turn a light red. It became the colour of sunset: a prime opportunity for lovers to be together and show their affections. "Even closer yet Sora." Sora plunged his heart as far as he could go. The Rose of Eternity became as red as fire itself: the one thing that always binds lovers together and gives them comfort no matter the situation or the predicament.

The rose began to glow and white energy came out from it and engulfed Kairi. Her colour came back and she slowly started waking up. Sadly though Sora collapsed on the cold ground. Victor then thought, 'Oh no. You poor girl.' Kairi awoke and saw Victor, but not in his white hooded suit and saw he was on the verge of tears. She thought, 'I wonder what's got him down?' She then saw Sora on the ground next to the rose and gasped and thought, 'Sora!! He came. Oh that boy is wonderful. I ought to give him a nice big kiss when this is all over.' She ran up and knelt down next to Sora. She flipped him onto his back and noticed his skin was pale. She then said, "Hey Sora!! It's me Kairi." Victor turned away gritting his teeth preparing for the worst. Kairi's eyes began to water as she shook his body. She said, "Wake up Sora!!...It's me…Kairi!!" She then felt his hand and realized there wasn't even a pulse.

She then cried and said, "No!! No!! Sora!!" She knelt her head on his chest and then said, "No!! How could this happen?" Victor then walked towards the girl and said as she turned to see who it was, "Sora sacrificed his life to give you yours. I told him it was the only way. I didn't think he would do it. Yet he did." Kairi then said as she stood up and punched Victor's stomach, "You told him this!! You monster!! You monster!!" As she shed some more tears, Victor comforted her and then said, "It's alright. Look." Victor clenched his hands together and chanted something in Russian and then Sora began to glow white. Kairi watched this and saw Sora's colour come back as did he start waking up like she did. Kairi then smiled and began to cry even more. "Sora!!" She ran up and collapsed on the boy with him saying, "Hey Kairi. I see you're doing alright. Oofff." Kairi then kissed Sora a few times and Victor thought while laughing, 'Such a good couple. They deserve each other.' Victor then began to walk away and Sora and Kairi stood up and then Kairi asked, "Why'd you bring him back to life? Especially when he did this? I thought you were trying to kill Sora." Victor then shook his head and turned to face them. He then said, "I have done some pretty bad stuff even for me. But know this. From here on in, Sora you have my respect. Furthermore, no more innocent lives will be lost on my watch!! You can be sure of that!!" As he said this, Sora and Kairi stared at the boy with inquisitive minds and questions about the entire adventure as a whole, the rose itself and the reasons he did what he did in the first place.


	46. Chapter 45: The Final Battle, Part 4

**_The Final Battle (Part 4)_**

Sora stared into Victor's crisp brown eyes and then asked, "Are you gonna tell us or not? Why'd you bring me back to life?" Victor shook his head and then turned to Sora and Kairi and said, "Okay, you wanna know the truth? I have been chasing an entity of the sort. Sora has met him before, he goes by the name of Darkness." Sora then said, "Yeah that's right Darkness is the same guy who took over Radiant Garden isn't he?" Victor continued, "Yes he is. I have been after him and his kind of evil for years. I knew that by banishing him from my mind it wasn't enough to get rid of him. He is pretty much immortal unless I die myself. No one or no thing can kill him except for me in the case of my own death." Kairi then asked, "Not to be a stick in the mud, but who is Darkness?" Sora then explained to Kairi about Darkness and everything he did since he first met him. Kairi then said, "He sure sounds like a dangerous guy that's for sure." Victor then said, "More than you know my dear."

Sora then asked, "So what does he have to do with Kairi?" Victor continued, "Well let's see. From what I remember I chased him all the way here and it was inside your dream I followed him. He tried to overcome you and take you down. Yet I was there in secrecy. I told you that despite how great the darkness got, the light was always there to balance it. I said that no matter what you mustn't be afraid of the darkness. We never did meet again until back on Destiny Island if you remember. It was there that I began to create an experiment of the sort. The legendary Rose of Eternity. It is a very ancient powerful plume that in reality has the ability to destroy darkness itself and keep a good balance of good and evil in the hearts of every person." Sora then said, "So then what you said about it being used for destroying galaxies…" "It was a total lie yes. However, that was to threaten you my good man. Now here's the good part. You see in order for the experiment to have gone smoothly I had to get to Kairi. Why? In every universe heck every planet, there is one person that is so pure and innocent that they have a special trait or super power within them that is used spiritually instead of a physically using it. That is the one thing that could actually create the rose and give it root.", Victor said.

Kairi then asked, "So you needed me then to activate the rose?" Victor continued again, "Yes I sure did. That pink thing I pulled out of your body is actually that special trait that makes the rose so powerful: love. You and Sora here are so tight that this ball formed within you when you started to get close to Sora here." Kairi slightly blushed a little as did Sora when he asked smugly, "Is that true Kairi?" Kairi then said shyly, "Uh well… eheh." Victor chuckled and said, "Oh come on. I can see it in your eyes Kairi. You love Sora. That's why I needed you. That's why I came back to Radiant Garden to capture you and all the other girls and princes that my associates and I were after. I told them that if they did this for me I would pay them a billion dollars. They fell for it too, hook line and sinker. Anyways, as for you Sora, I had to take Kairi. I knew that Darkness was after you ever since he went into your dream as did I. I saw him fight and lose to you. I also figured that he would try to capture you and use you against me here in my mind. On the outside I am invincible, but if Darkness was able to make me suffer here my imagination would disappear and he would be free to make his own destiny which means he could take my mind over and rule over my body, mind and soul for eternity. It would also mean both your universe, as well as mine would be obliterated in the process for his lust of power and obedience to Pyros or Satan as the people back home call him. I figured that if I could get to you first and get up in your face and flirt with your girl it would prove my theory right about you."

Sora then asked, "What's that then?" Victor paused a second and continued, "That love conquers all. I knew you'd fight for the girl, but I didn't expect you to poke your heart through the thorn though. That made me jump back a bit. It also meant that even I misunderstood the very power that love holds. Yet that's what so perfect about it. Your love for Kairi made you continue to fighting me in the very end. I also started to try and fight you because I wanted you to be ready for the day that Darkness did enter your universe. I didn't anticipate him arriving so early though. I saw on a special scanner of mine that he had appeared on Disney Castle and then I saw him as did you and your buddies on Ailiana and the Fantasmic Musical Opera. I had to fight him myself a couple of times so as to keep him off your trail. However the point is, Darkness has the same type of fighting method as I do because we are so alike, except that he uses fear and hate as his power while I use my ingenuity and thought to create power."Sora then asked, "So you were on our side the whole time then?" Victor said, "Yup. Although it was subtle and it did seem like I was the bad guy yeah. I was really on your side. To prove it…" Victor snapped his fingers and the dark area became filled with light and Victor continued, "The worlds I took over are now free again. Even Destiny Island is free too. Everything I took over in this little universe is free again. I wish I could say the same for the ones that Darkness took over though." Sora looked to the ground thinking, 'What have I done? I can't believe I went after the wrong guy the whole time."

Kairi then asked Victor, "So what's going to happen to those worlds now?" Victor replied, "I wish I knew Kairi. I wish I knew. Sadly until Darkness is defeated, there is nothing that can be done. And the rose is useless without Kairi's spirit in there." Kairi looked at Sora and then at Victor and said, "Put me back in the rose." Sora and Victor both said, "What?!?" and Victor continued, "I can't do it." Sora then asked, "Are you sure you want to do this? I don't want to lose you again." Kairi then said, "I'll be alright. Besides those innocent people are in danger. Put me in the rose Victor." Victor then said, "Like I said I can't. I only managed to get your spirit into the rose when it was your love alone powering the rose. Now that Sora stuck his heart into the rose it's no good. When Sora's love got mixed with Kairi's love it created a bond that is even stronger than the atom itself. They are a mix of both Sora's power and Kairi's power and essences together incarnate. The rose in other words has fallen in love with itself." Sora then said, "I guess separating them won't do it huh?" Victor shook his head and replied, "Even if I had time there would be no way I could harness that kind of affection from the core of the rose at all. It is a viable substance so that means it has a life of its own and a mind of its own as well."

Victor then looked out into space and Sora then said, "Look, I'm sorry about what I said. Truth is both you and Anastasia are lucky to have each other. You both go together well." Victor replied as he started to walk a few steps north of Sora and Kairi., "No Sora. You were right. I did do some terrible things. I wouldn't expect forgiveness. I mean why should I? I took over worlds and made people slaves. Anastasia was the only one who cared about me the way she did. She was the only one who understood me as I the person that I am. She was the only one I felt really close to. That's why I envy you and Kairi Sora." Kairi then asked as both Sora and Kairi walked up to Victor and tapped his shoulder, "You envy us? But why?" Victor shed a tear from his left eye to the ground of his imagination and said, "I don't know how to love. I mean my mom died when I was just a kid. Since then no one trusted me. No one cared for me. They just left me out in the cold to die. When I did meet Anastasia for the first time, I started to cry a little. She was so beautiful and so gentle and caring. She was a total sweetheart then and is today. I didn't want to hurt her. I was the one who killed her own mother." Sora and Kairi gasped as they heard this, but Sora held it back and said, "But she's alright though. We heard from Anastasia that her mother was a human and that when she did die she went to Ailiana. You basically made one right and one wrong. You may have killed her, but you at least made Anastasia very happy. Her mother and her have never been closer."

Victor chuckled a little and said, "Yeah I guess you're right. It's kinda funny though how the girls from my world find you to be both hot and gay at the same time." Kairi started laughing and then Sora crashed to the ground saying, "What?!?" Victor shook his head and said, "Never mind. What's important now is that we get rid of Darkness and soon. Listen Sora. I know that the rose isn't in commission but I can add its power to mine. With any luck I may be able to destroy Darkness before he can do any damage. However I need a diversion." Sora smiled and said, "You can count on me Victor. I'll do whatever I can to help." Kairi stood next to Sora as they both smiled at Victor and said, "Me too Victor. This party is just getting started." Victor then said, "So nothing else to do, but end it."

Victor disappeared as did the Rose of Eternity and from its spot appeared Anastasia. She wasn't dead, but laying on the ground peacefully sleeping. Sora then said, "I wonder how she got here." A dark being soon appeared from the farthest corner of the lit imaginative mind of Victor and said, "Perhaps I can answer that question boy." As Kairi held onto Sora's left shoulder, he said, "So we meet again Darkness. I see you're still as evil as you'll ever be." Darkness replied with a twinkle in his left yellow eye, "More than you'll ever know. I have more power than you realize. I'm surprised that you would dare show yourself to me in a place like this let alone. Do you have any idea what I will do if you lose here?" Sora then said, "I can take a wild guess if that's what you're implying." Darkness then raised the ground around him and soon a huge column appeared underneath him bringing him to about twenty feet above Sora, Kairi, and Anastasia. Darkness laughed and soon the well lit area became dark once more. Kairi hid behind Sora and then said, "Sora I'm scared!!" Sora thought as Kairi tugged at his shirt, 'Oh no. Kairi's scared and I'm not feeling at all confident right now. I better think of something quick before Kairi get's anymore scared.' Sora smiled to the frightened girl and hugged her. He then said, "Don't worry. I'll protect you, Kairi."

Sora drew out his keyblade and ran towards the column. Kairi stared at Darkness and his fearful yellow eyes and then thought, 'Oh Sora. Please do be careful. I couldn't bear to lose you again. I barely even held my own when we were separated two years ago. Sora then charged up the column like he did at the tower back in the World that Never Was a year earlier battling Xemnas, and like him Darkness flew down with a blade of his own made of pure darkness. Even the sword itself had a double black aura on it indicating it was designed to not only kill the victim, but curse his/her soul as well.

Meanwhile, Victor touched the Rose of Eternity with his hands and began sucking its power into himself. He took deep breaths so as to counterbalance all of the concentration he had to put his mind into. Yet even as he did he still began to sweat. Every last once of the rose was getting sucked into his mind from the soft petals to the smallest roots of the plant itself. Victor then thought as he did this, 'It would seem Darkness has found his way here. I figured as much. If he can find his way here without me anticipating it he could do just about anything he puts his mind into. Be careful Sora. He is one guy you don't wanna underestimate for a millisecond.'


	47. Chapter 46: The Final Battle, Part 5

**_The Final Battle (Part 5)_**

Sora slashed at Darkness, but he transported behind him and Darkness kicked Sora and then scratched his body. The dark being said, "Hurts I bet. How does it feel to have your friends disappeared and withered away?" Sora's eyes perked up. He then said, "You were the one who took them away one by one? How could you?" Darkness then said with a chuckle, "Guilty as charged. I am the darkness boy!! You best be listening to me when I say that much. I am in control of this universe's destiny." Darkness then created a giant black ice glacier around the Inner Realm. He then took Sora by his left leg and they both went flying into the sky twenty feet or more. Darkness then punched Sora and knocked him out cold as he dropped him. Kairi screamed to the top of her lungs, "You let him go Darkness, you her me?!? You leave him alone right now!!" Darkness laughed, "As you wish fair maiden!!" Sora fell further and further towards the ground and then he thought, 'How can I face this guy? He's everything Kairi and I fear. He controls every bit anger and hate there is. I just don't know anymore.'

Then a voice said, "Oh come on. I just told you not to fear him Sora. This guy is a chump. He's got no style, no fight or nothing in him. He in the very due fact is a bully. He only wants attention. If you expect to be a guy like him you have to show no fear." Sora then asked, "But how can I? He's too powerful." The voice continued, "Hello, its Victor my good man. I am the one he was after before and I even I knew not to be afraid of that that has no life, no soul, no nothing at all. Sora, you must be the hero right now. I'm still not ready to fight him yet. So now you must show him no mercy." Sora then felt a strange light appear around him and gave him flight. "This power I have given you is a tiny piece of what my brothers and I found a long while back. It should help you hold him off for long enough, do you got that?", Victor asked. Sora nodded and said, "Loud and clear sir." Sora then transformed into his Master Form of his old suit from a year eariler fighting Organization XIII.

Sora then flew off and Darkness wrapped himself around Sora. Sora yelled as he dispersed Darkness, "I'm not afraid of you!!" Darkness reformed and then asked, "Are you sure about that Sora?" Sora quivered a little from the cold aura he presented and then Darkness captured the Sword of Light from Sora's hand. He also had the Swords of Balance and Darkness in hand and destroyed them in a single blast he called 'Darkness Wave'. "A mere copy of the original. Tsk-tsk. It's too bad. I was rather hoping to fight the true power of the great beyond. No matter you'll do just fine." Darkness then grabbed Sora and threw him to the ground. There many copies of Darkness appeared and then went after Kairi. Sora slashed at them all as best he could, but they kept reforming. Darkness appeared in front of Sora and Kairi and then he asked, "How is it that you still continue to fight me boy? I am Darkness. You can never destroy me. I will always haunt your dreams and prey on your loved ones for all eternity. And there's nothing you can do about it."

Sora yelled, "That's what you think Darkness!!" and slashed at him once more at his chest, even though it proved to no avail. Darkness then created a ring of black fire around him and Sora and then summoned a dark sword of his own to fight with. Sora took out his keyblade and then anticipated he would attack first and he did. Darkness slashed at the keyblade twenty times and even more to break Sora's defense. The boy held his ground until his foot leaned too much forward and the keyblade got knocked out of his hand. Darkness then scratched up Sora's body twenty to fifty times before taking a break and Sora lay on his back coughing up blood and he noticed all the cuts and bruises put on his body by Darkness and tried to hold his knees feeling the most pain coming from them. Darkness then said whilst walking towards the injured boy, "Such impudence. I can not believe such rambunctious child could cause so much trouble." He then grabbed Sora and punched him ten times to which Kairi yelled, "Leave him alone you bully!!" She ran up and kicked Darkness, but he grabbed Kairi and put a set of locks and chains on her legs and arms made out of pure darkness as well as he covered her mouth from saying anything more.

"You somehow managed to even beat Xehanort's heartless and Xemnas as well." He punched Sora again and Kairi began to cry. Her tears came down fast like a rain cloud is on a rainy day. Darkness chuckled as he heard the girl squeal and he asked sinisterly, "Do you hear that my boy? The girl is showing her affection for you. Even as you are under my iron fist, beat up and pathetic she still weeps for you. How delicious." Sora spat in his face and called the keyblade back to him, "Get lost loser!!" He slashed at Darkness yet again, but then took hold of the keyblade, destroyed it and said, "Such a pathetic weapon as well. You should know me better by now boy. I can never die. The only one who can hurt me is Victor and as you can see he is nowhere to be found."

Darkness then created more copies of himself again and then they punched, kicked and tore up Sora's body so much, it seemed like he was getting beat up on the wrestling team at school. Darkness continued to laugh as Kairi continued to cry. Victor then appeared in Sora's body. Darkness then said, "What?!? Who are you. I know it isn't Sora. He doesn't have that same scent as you." The being laughed inside Sora's body. "Come on. You call a shot of revenge and you can't even remember me? You're pathetic." Darkness then thought, "Victor. I should've known. Come down here and face me like a man." Victor then replied, "Very soon. However I leave you with the styling fight with Sora as a bit of a warm up for me." Sora had regained himself. Sora said as calmly as he could, "Listen Kairi…you mustn't cry…I know it's hard not to…but just try and not to cry… alright? Darkness get's his energy from fear…I know because I saw him attack Maleficent and her crew. They…were…scared of him…as well…"Kairi did as Sora said and stopped crying. When she did, she saw a blinding light open her locks, but it wasn't Victor. It was Anastasia. She turned into an angel in white clothing. She wore white earrings, her hair was white, she had eight wings protruding from her back and her body was covered in pure clothed dress of light that shone so bright it was the equivalent of twenty show lights inside of Las Vegas. Darkness then gazed upon the natural beauty and said, "How interesting. A girl's purity is enough to break even my power. I'll take you out first so as to prolong the boy's suffering." Darkness dropped Sora to the ground and left to attack Anastasia. Kairi ran up to try and help him. She cried a little and asked, "Oh Sora. Are you alright?" Sora looked so beat up his clothes were torn on all sides and had smears of blood everywhere on it. He just laughed a little and said, "It's just a little scratch. It's nothing much." Kairi then yelled asking, "Are you nuts? You're practically bleeding all over your body and you call that just a scratch. I love you Sora." Sora saw a trickling tear roll down Kairi's left eye and with what little strength he could wiped the water droplet from her eye. Sora then said, "It'll be alright. We'll get out of this somehow. I promise."

Meanwhile, Anastasia engaged Darkness and was losing evermore. Darkness grabbed her by her neck and began squeezing the life out of her bit by bit. Darkness asked, "How does that feel Anastasia? Because of you I had to find other ways of tempting Victor to do my bidding. Because of your pathetic love, I had to come to this desolate part of the universe and teach meddlesome children a lesson in manners." Anastasia bit Darkness' hands and said, "Serves you right. You had no business in Victor's life. You were going to use him to hurt innocent people. You're a snake and a coward Darkness!!" The dark being laughed again as Sora, Kairi and Anastasia stared into his yellow insidious eyes. He then said, "So then I'm a coward, even though your boyfriend isn't here to fight his own battles and has to get mere weaklings like you to do it for him. I find that rather amusing…" He then transported himself behind Anastasia and licked her neck. "…wouldn't you agree?", he continued. Anastasia turned started to feel sick and cold and then Sora got up and slashed Darkness in the back while saying, "Leave her alone you bully!!" Darkness for once actually felt pain from Sora's hand and then said chuckling, "Very good Sora. I see that all of the bruises and cuts I made have only made you stronger. Quite excellent. Now we shall fight once more. To the death. It doesn't matter to me since I can't die anyway."

Darkness appeared behind Sora and then slashed at his legs and then his chest bit by bit. Sora tried defending himself as best he could with the keyblade by back shuffling, but Darkness easily pierced through that defense and grabbed Sora at the neck. Kairi once again tried to kick him, but Darkness then tied her up in rope made of pure darkness and then covered her mouth with it as well. He then smiled at Anastasia saying, "This time I know all about your tricks. So you can't help Kairi out now." Anastasia stared angrily at Darkness and then he asked whilst attacking her using Sora's body as a weapon, "What's the matter my dear? Are you feeling under the weather?" As both Sora and Anastasia lay on the ground injured (Sora even more because of his previous injuries), Darkness grabbed them both once more and created more and more copies of himself to cover the entire Inner Realm. They then started double attacking on Sora and Anastasia leaving them broken down and injured even more. Yet they both still got up and tried attacking Darkness and his copies, to get no progress. Darkness then asked them, "Why do you do this children? You are clearly outmatched and outwitted. You have no strength to fight, barely any energy, and no strategy. How is it that you still defy me?"

Sora chuckled and said, "You don't get it. You guys never do seem to catch on. So long as we have something to fight for we'll never give in. You hear me, never!!" Darkness then sliced Sora's shirt near his stomach and brought him to the ground. He stood over the boy's torn up body and said, "Such noble attributions from a radiant youth. Yet noble attributions don't win battles or prove who the better warrior is now do they?" Sora looked away and prepared to die as Darkness raised his dark auraed sword above his abdomen. Anastasia shot him with an arrow. She held a white bow and a white case with twenty white arrows, but Darkness blasted them all away with his power and said, "Fool. You can never defeat the likes of me." He then shot Anastasia away, knocking her out cold and then he went back to Sora's attention. Darkness then said, "Good bye Sora. It was a pleasure fighting you!!" Then a flash of white light kicked his sword and punched Darkness two hundred feet away which destroyed all of the copies as well and destroyed the sword as well. Sora then saw out near Kairi's tied up body was a boy in a white hooded suit who freed her and then got Anastasia to come to again. Sora then said with what strength he could, "Victor. You came back." Victor flickered his hands in all directions and soon enough Sora was healed. "Now who said this party was over? I just got here and I wanna have some fun now.", Victor said. Darkness then appeared in front of Victor and said, "Perhaps I can give you a taste of pure defeat." Victor created a barrier of light around him and Darkness which destroyed the black ice glacier and returned the Inner Realm to its white essence. He then said, "Bring it Darkness!!"

While Victor fought Darkness, Sora went after Kairi making sure she was alright. He then hugged Kairi and Kairi said, "You're hugging me? I should be hugging you. You just about got killed." Sora let go and then said, "Oh right." Kairi then began hugging Sora saying, "I didn't say to stop though did I?" Sora shook his head and said, "Nope." As he hugged her tightly, Anastasia and saw Victor fighting against Darkness with all that he could. Sora then told Kairi that he was going to help out Victor and left to give him some assistance. As the boy managed to enter the barrier he then transfomed into Omega!! Darkness then yelled, "What?!? He transformed? But how?" Victor then said, "You were so distracted with vengence you forgot about Sora here. He's the protector of the universe here as I am back in the Solar System with my brothers. Face it Darkness, you're no match for the likes of me!!" Darkness then yelled, "We shall see boy!!" (This is like the fight with Hades in KH2) Victor summoned an orb of light and shot it right at Darkness causing him a great amount of pain and then said, "Sora, now's your chance. I've weakned Darkness for you, but it's only temporary." Omega nodded and then summoned the keyblade. He then began slicing Darkness like an onion, then a kick, then a jump in the air and an aerial strike right into his stomach. That is until he starting gaining more power. Darkness then went after Victor and summoned a dark sword of his own like that of Kered's rapier. He then clashed with Victor to the left, then the right, left, right, left, right, left and then right again. Victor then shot an orb at Darkness's chest holding him in place in mid air and told Omega, "Now's your chance Sora. Finish him off. He's really weak now." Omega nodded and then the keyblade began to glow gold. With one final strike known as 'Aurora Wave' destroyed Darkness and left nothing, but a cloud of smoke. Anastasia and Kairi then started cheering Sora and Victor saying they did it. Even Omega (Sora) started to cheer, but Victor glared at the smoke. Omega asked, "What's wrong Victor? We did it. Darkness is gone for good." Victor then said, "I don't think so Sora. He's Darkness after all. He can be very mysterious sometimes." Victor then pointed at the cloud and then Omega and the others heard a sinister laugh. "Foolish children. I am not gone by a long shot. Besides I have a little parting gift I want to give." Victor then said, "Oh no he wouldn't!! Oh what am I saying of course that basturd would." Omega looked into the clouds wondering what Victor was talking about and saw Darkness in the flesh having his arms crossed in front of his chest and then raised them to form a black 'X'. Darkness then summoned a huge set of black darkened glass and said, "I've had my eye on you for quite a while Victor. Now let's see if your friends see what I see. Hahahahahaha." Omega ran out of the barrier to protect Kairi and Anastasia and in the process de-morphed back into Sora again. Darkness then opened the barrier of light and launched the set of glass towards Sora, Kairi, and Anastasia. Sora covered Kairi as best he could as Anastasia did to both of them. They heard the sound of something get cut, but it wasn't them. They looked up and saw Victor pierced by the many shards of glass that Darkness sent at them. Darkness laughed and said, "You fool. You have no idea where we're at. This is the Inner Realm, your mind. This is the one place where I can't die when you do." Victor then chuckled to which Darkness asked, "What's so funny? You have glass in your body and you're laughing." Victor nodded and said, "Because of this. While you were fighting Sora I was gathering the energy of the 'Rose of Eternity'. That's right Darkness there's nowhere to escape this blast. It's like a homing device. It will find you wherever you go and destroy you." Victor then gathered him arms together and yelled 'Temphis Light' as a huge ray of light appeared and destroyed Darkness once and for all.

Victor fell from the sky and soon enough Sora, Kairi and Anastasia gathered around him. Anastasia got tears to her eyes and said, "No. Victor please don't go. Please don't go-o-o-o (sob)." Victor held Anastasia's left hand and then said, "I didn't kill Darkness. But really I did banish him. So now he can't come here anymore to the KH universe nor can he enter the Inner Realm. At least not while I still have a say in the matter." Sora then got close to Victor and said, "You saved us. But why? I wanted to get you so bad for kidnapping Kairi and you did this for us?" Victor then nodded and said, "It's the Sacred Protection. That means I help those who are my friends. That of which you always have been Sora, Kairi. Oh Anastasia, I'm sorry I ran away a few years back. I didn't mean to." Anastasia smiled while crying and said, "No Victor. Don't say anything. You did what was the right thing to do. You didn't want me to get hurt. I can see why my father cried as well as you going crazy. You were supposed to do this (sob) (sniffle)." Victor nodded as he wiped away teardrop that started to trickled down Anastasia's delicate, soft right cheek. Victor then smiled and said, "Otherwise you would've been killed. I couldn't bear to see you perish. You meant everything to me Anastasia. And Sora, I'm sorry I kidnapped your girl. It was pretty bad of me to do." Sora smiled and said crying, "Don't beat yourself up. You just wanted to protect us. You did what you had to do Victor." Victor continued saying, "No. It was a downright shame what I did. I shouldn't have kidnapped those girls and princes in the first place and just faced Darkness like a man here and now. His control over the worlds here is no more. So all of the worlds I have taken over and he had taken over are now free Sora. I doubt my path will ever cross again with yours." Victor then collapsed and his eyes closed shut. Anastasia then collapsed onto Victor and cried her heart out. Sora and Kairi started crying as well feeling like they had just lost a best friend. Suddenly a light shone through Victor's dead corpse and they were all transported. To where though was hard to say at that moment, as they all left the Inner Realm never to see it again.


	48. Epilogue

_Kingdom Hearts: Legend of the White Knight_

_Epilogue_

As Sora and Kairi woke up, they found themselves next to each other holding hands. They soon separated their joined limbs and took a good look around the area they were in. They had returned to Destiny Island. The home they had been separated from for so long was now in their sights and what's more as the couple blushed over the fact that they were together they remembered about Anastasia and how Victor died protecting them from Darkness. They saw Anastasia at the beach's shore crying. There was little they could do for the troubled girl. Victor was dead and there was no lie about that. Even as she stared at the blazing sun that showed so much hope and light, Anastasia only saw sorrow and despair. She then felt the tiniest tap of hands on her shoulders. It was Sora and Kairi hugging the girl helping her as best they could to escape her sorrow. As they shared a quiet tender moment on the dry beach, something caught Anastasia's attention. She held out her hand and what landed in it was a white feather. As Sora and Kairi looked up they all gazed on what was a dove.

It was the smallest little thing they ever saw. It was only as big as the palm of Sora's hand and looked so gentle and peaceful Kairi stroked the little guy's feathers with ease and it enjoyed the affection the girl gave it. Sora then saw lying on the beach was all of his friends captured by the darkness. Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Tidus, Yuffie and Jiminy Cricket awoke to find Sora running after them and hugging them all with all the energy he could spare as did Kairi. Anastasia saw this and then thought to herself, 'Lucky Sora. Kairi sure is lucky to have a guy like him always doing what he can to protect her. Just like Victor (sob). He always did want me to be protected no matter what. Oh Victor!!'

The group saw Anastasia crying and then went to cheer her up. As the group did what they could to give the girl closure and healing over her loss, Sora saw something in the distant ocean sky. A light had appeared and shone down towards Anastasia. From came down a boy in a white hooded suit!! As Mickey, Riku and the others prepared their weapons Sora then held his hand up in a way of saying no. As the group watched, Tidus then complained, "Well what are standing around here for? He's right there. We should be attacking him right now!!" Yuffie then punched Tidus and Sora said quietly and calmly, "Actually Tidus, thanks to Victor, he saved us. He brought me back to life when I tried saving Kairi, long story short. What's more he did it all for her." Victor took off his hooded suit and revealed a cleaned up chestnut brown haired boy in a well dressed tuxedo. He also wore white gloves and gave a nice calm smile as a sign of assurance and hope to the sad girl. As Victor put his right index finger under her chin and pulled her head up to face him, the girl blushed and began to cry even more as she collapsed inside his arms and tears ran down her face towards his strong, warm, inviting chest.

Anastasia said, "Oh Victor!! (sob) (sniffle) I thought you were gone. Sora, Kairi and I saw you die in your own mind no less. I don't get it. Darkness launched a fierce amount of diamond glass right at us." Victor saw her look to his suit and he used his index finger to perk her chin up to him. "I'm always closer than you think. Besides, I could never leave you like that. Anastasia, you make me feel so good inside. Any thought on fighting is all about defending you or anyone else in danger." Anastasia started to smile as she looked at Victor and his warm happy smiling face and hugged him tightly. Victor gave slight soft taps on her back to keep her calm. All the while Yuffie, and Kairi began crying out of happiness and Tidus was right next to Donald. He then said, "I promised myself I wouldn't cry. (Sob) Too late!!" Tidus then blubbered all over Donald and his clothes to which Donald screamed and said, "Get off!! You're getting my shirt all wet." As Donald tried prying off Tidus, Riku and Sora couldn't help but laugh and smile as they saw Victor and Anastasia back together.

Mickey then turned around and saw Leon and Merlin walk towards the group. Mickey then asked, "Hey Leon!! Hey Merlin!! How'd you guys get here?" They then saw Chip and Dale running along the sand and Mickey giggled a little and said, "I had to ask huh?" Leon then said while the group laughed at Mickey's little joke, "I guess we didn't miss much. Luckily while Victor was busy with you guys, he didn't notice Chip and Dale fixing the Gummi Ship. We had it done by the time you guys went to Treasure Planet. We would've told you, but you were all too busy helping out other people." Mickey then replied, "So how's Minnie doing?" Leon then said, "See for yourself." Mickey then saw a familiar female mouse appear from the Gummi Ship and tackle the poor mouse and as she smothered him in kisses, Mickey said, "Good to see you too Minnie!!" Minnie then replied, "Oh Mickey, don't you ever change one bit." Merlin then gathered the group together and said, "When Darkness was defeated all of the worlds he took over went back to their original state. Same goes for the princes and princesses Victor kidnapped. When he harnessed the Rose of Eternity's power, he used up the energy it gave off so its effects were null and void and the inhabitants went back to their place of birth namely their home worlds. Things should be back to normal on Radiant Garden as well." Sora asked while the group still laid there confused, "How do you know all of this? You guys were captured remember?" Merlin then said, "I don't know my boy. The second Leon and I were free from our captured state we suddenly thought about Victor and had the idea in our heads that he harnessed the rose for its power and just saved the universe that way." The entire group then stared at Victor and Anastasia kissing and snuggling together. Merlin said, "They sure do seem right for each other don't you think so your majesty?"

Mickey then said, "Oh yeah of course. Look at those two. Such young love. Who knows what challenges will await them in the future?" Kairi hugged Sora as hard as she could and Sora held her tightly in kind thinking, 'I'll never take you for granted Kairi. Never in a million years will I let anything bad happen to you.' As the group laughed together over random jokes they started telling, the small dove flew away into the clean crisp afternoon which slowly became a nice quiet sunset.

The group then started to have a party celebrating their victory and Victor and Anastasia's love for each other. They built up a dance floor which also had a buffet table and a "video game corner" (which was just a couple of arcade games inside a greenhouse. Tidus was pigging out at the buffet along with a few other party guests from Destiny Island like Wakka, Yuffie along with Aerith and Kairi were sitting and talking to each other about Victor and Anastasia, while Sora and Riku were nowhere to be found. Yuffie then asked, "Hey has anyone seen Sora or Riku? I haven't seen them since this afternoon." Kairi then said looking at the night sky that had just arrived, "I'm sure they're just catching some z's that's all." On the cold beach just outside of the dance floor, Sora and Riku were looking at the stars and talking about the stuff they did on their adventure. Sora chuckled a little and then said, "You know we make a good team. We should give ourselves a name like "The Mighty Duo" or the "Masked Hombres"." Riku laughed at the idea and said, "Yeah and maybe I'll go brush sand in your face." As Riku did just that Sora caught sight of this and then he started throwing sand in his face. Kairi then went outside to find Sora and then screamed at what she saw. Sora and Riku smiled, but Kairi looked absolutely furious. She then said, "Do you know how expensive those tuxes are boys? And yet you're using them like a fat guy with his clothes in a locker room." Sora gave Kairi a smile and said, "We're just having a little fun. I mean we just saved the universe along with you as well." Kairi walked off back inside saying to herself, "That'll keep me from worrying."

Meanwhile back outside, Riku and Sora continued to talk and Sora said, "Man Victor sure is a lucky guy huh?" Riku nodded. He then said, "It's so true. He was looking to finally make good ends with the girl of his dreams and he does just that. Speaking of which I think now might be time for their solo dance. We should go check it out." As the boys arrived, they saw a disco ball in the centre of the dance floor and the entire group of guests, along with Donald and Goofy, sitting and enjoying the entertainment Victor and Anastasia gave while dancing. Then the most magical thing occurred of them all. Mickey was the honourary D.J. for the night and played a special song during the next few minutes while everyone watched Victor and Anastasia slow dance. (This song lyrics is sung by Donna de Lory, who has a lovely voice, and although was used in Sonic the Hedgehog at a weird particular time, I have chosen to use here since I think it is well suited. If you guys have the song, I would suggest listening to it or youtube it if you can, your choice if you wanna listen to the song. This song always does make me cry.) **My Destiny-Sonic the Hedgehog**:

**"I remember memories from a long long time ago I can hear you calling me, to never let you go As the sun shines down on me, I hold the key to give Take hold of the destiny, I may give you life..."**

In between Victor and Anastasia began ball room dancing. They danced in circles feeling the beat flow through their veins, and what's more it reminded Mickey of Cinderalla and Prince Charming. As Mickey sighed, Donald and Goofy stared to which Goofy asked, "Are you alright your majesty? You look like you're day dreaming." Mickey came to his senses and said, "Oh it's nothing Goofy. It's alright."

**"Can you stay forever more?Or are you gonna leave from me?No matter what it takes for me, I'll find youJust to be with you one more time..."**

Victor then held out his right arm while Anastasia held onton his righth hand with her right and Victor did a classical twirl around. Anastasia fell back slightly, but Victor caught her with his left hand so valiantly, some of the girls in the crowd just fainted and sighed when they saw this. Mickey thought to himself, "Boy Victor if only your parents could see you now. You sure have grown up into a handsome young man. Go get her tiger."

**"A smile will find the way, my loveYou've taught me that life can be revivedWith a smiling face,The meaning of my destiny can be changed for your loveI can rule the world my loveCan't you see that, we can all surviveIf you'll be by my side, the world will be a better place for us all..."**

Victor then pushed ever so slightly on Anastasia's back to bring her closer to him, to which she slightly blushed and enjoyed. Victor then threw Anastasia into the air and she did fifteen twirls in mid air before coming down and landing Victor's strong warm arms.

**"Ever since I met you, I want you by my side Should I go on my way or let you go for a ride If I ever worry, then I will run to you You gave me your everything, and my heart can be true..."**

Tidus then threw a rose to Victor, to which he caught with his mouth and whilst twirling the redheaded girl, he managed to get her to do a back flip while placing the rose in her hair and he caught her once more. Before Anastasia could ask why, Victor then said, "It looks really nice on you. I asked Tidus to hold it for just this occasion." Anastasia cried a little and then Victor grabbed her right hand and continued to ball room dance around the entire arena.

**"Can you stay forever more? Or are you gonna leave from me? No matter what it takes for me, I'll find youJust to be with you one more time..."**

Victor then twirled Anastasia once more, but this time to her left instead of the right and he angle his foot in such a way, that he could have the girl ever so slightly rest on his right leg. Anastasia followed Victor's moves and smiled all the way. Sora then thought while laughing, 'Victor you are one sly dog. Good luck man. Anastasia deserves to be happy. Especially after all she's been through to find you. Go whoo her over buddy!!'

**"Stay close to me my love, You've taught me that life can be revived With a smiling face, The meaning of my destiny can be changed for your loveI can rule the world my love Can't you see that, we can all survive If you'll be by my side, the world will be a better place for us all..."**

Victor thought to himself while holding Anastasia in his arms, 'Wow. All of this time, she was looking for me. Even when there were other guys on Saryu and even Ailiana she picked me. I'm glad. I think I know now what love truly is. It feels nice. It's so inviting and so lovely." Anastasia saw Victor's left eye twinkle and thought to herself, 'Oh Victor. I don't know how, but after all this time you remembered me. I never thought I would be here, but I am. Thank you for being such a sweetheart to me.' Even though they couldn't hear each other's thoughts they still smiled knowing in some way or another what the other had thought to himself/herself.

**"I will make my way, my loveI know I will never be the same Sharing of my life, destiny will never be for your love, you know I will rule the world, my love Memories of you, my heart's fulfilled Trusting in your love, the peace will come to you and me and the world Forever more..."**

Victor then threw Anastasia in the air and while she did her fifteen twirls in mid air, Victor did a couple of somersaults, clapped his ankles together and did a few hand stands before doing a back flip in mid air and landing on his kneeling left knee. Anastasia came down right in the position he was in and Victor caught her with ease as she rested on his right knee that wasn't kneeled. Even as the song came to a close, people were clapping and applauding. Victor then raised Anastasia up as did she raise Victor up and Victor then said, "Oh Anastasia. I love you!!" Anastasia smiled and did Victor at each other and Victor brought himself close and before anyone else knew it, they locked lips together. Even Kairi was starting to cry a little at this tender moment and waved her hands in front of her face (as I've noticed lots of girls do) to keep her calm and relaxed. Kairi then thought, 'Oh where is Sora in all of this? This is so romantic!!' She then felt a tap on her shoulder and low and behold it was Sora who had his right hand extended to Kairi's. "Kairi...may I have this dance?" Kairi giggled a little and said, "Yes please." Then she grabbed his hand and they soon were off dancing like Victor and Anastasia as well. As Sora and Kairi managed to dance for the last three minutes of the song, Riku looked at both Victor and Anastasia and Sora and Kairi and thought, 'They are so alike its not even funny at all. Job well done Sora. Job well done.' Sora and Kairi then came back to the chairs and sat down together enjoying the nice quiet night that was upon them.

**"The peace will come and love."**

As the group watched Victor and Anastasia slow dance, they got butterflies in their stomachs and many of the people started to cry over the affection given off by the couple. Sora and Riku watched as the two cuddled together in a warm miasma of love and they themselves started to get affected by this and collapsed to the floor. Kairi and the other girls then said 'Ahem.' To which the boys just got up and Sora said, "I must be getting tired. Woah look at the time it's getting late. I better get home before my mom complains. See you guys tomorrow." Riku then said, "Yeah same here. My muscles are so torn I feel like I swallowed a dozen pine cones or something. Time I catch some shuddah. See ya." As the boys left, Kairi then thought to herself giggling, 'Yeah right. You guys are as happy for Victor and Anastasia as I am along with everyone else. I hope we do something like this someday Sora. I would like that as well.' Kairi then went back to chatting about random stuff with the other girls as the group then went in to go dancing beside Victor and Anastasia in the cool crisp night. All the while above the Dance Floor a shooting star passed by signifying the end of day, but the beginning of another very, very soon. The very next day, Kairi walked onto her front porch and on the ground was a necklace with a pearl (the one Sora got from Coral Galleon) attached in the centre of it. Underneath, was a note. It read, "I got this in one of the worlds we visited on our way to find you. I hope you like it. From Sora. P.S. I hope Victor and Anastasia are doing all right." Kairi smiled as she put on the necklace and then looked at the bright sun and thought to herself, 'Yeah. I hope Victor and Anastasia are alright too. They deserve each other.'

(Stay tuned. There's a secret ending to this story too. Yeah that's right, like any other good Kingdom Hearts story/game to be, there's always a secret ending. So again stay tuned.)


	49. Secret Ending

**Secret Ending**

**The New Dawn**

It was a nice clear day for the land of Destiny Island. The sky was blue, the sun was out and it was so hot you could roast a marshmallow and it could be moderately warm enough to eat. From a distance two people appeared from a portal. They weren't any ordinary people however. The first guy that came through was short, no bigger than five foot three, had strawberry brown hair, charcoal brown eyes and was wearing brown clothing. The guy next to him was really tall, slightly taller than Victor at five foot nine. He had brown eyes like him, but his hair was darker than his like a true brunette type of hair. He had a few freckles on his face (two or three max) which were very unnoticeable and he was as stern looking as a man holding a gun to a deer. The smallest boy next to him said, "Sure is a weird place Victor went to. Why did he want to conquer it again?" "I told you, he just wanted that kid to come after him. He told me himself he wasn't going to conquer it. That would be breaking the rules. Not to mention he is our brother. He wouldn't lie to us about something like this, Chris." Chris agreed and then the two brothers walked off into another portal.

Victor meanwhile, had just woke up in the Inner Realm. He then thought shaking his head, 'What an attack. Glad that's all over. Darkness sure didn't go down without a fight that's for sure. I should go and find Michael and Christopher. Maybe we can make our next plan back at home base or something like that. After all, it wouldn't be a party without Sora there.' He then walked into a white portal and disappeared leaving his imaginative mind behind him. Meanwhile, Sora was asleep and then in his dream he started remembering random scenes of meeting Inspector Lee and Detective James Carter, Roy O'Bannon and Chon Wang, Quint, Snow White, Yoshitsune, Manfred, and other inhabitants of different worlds he traveled to with his friends. He then saw Victor in the centre of a platform with him on it. Sora saw ten different letters on the floor of the platform. There was an A, C, E, T, P, O, R, I, L, and a K. Sora then asked Victor, "What's with all of the letters?" Victor replied, "They're the key to your next adventure Sora." Sora got confused and then Victor continued, "That's right. The fun isn't over yet. You have seen the might of my brothers. They got powers like you have never witnessed before. Trust me, if you can stand up against them, namely my older brother Michael, you can stand up to any foe you come against. In fact I'll even solve this puzzle for you." With one snap the letters began to form a word. "Torpacilke" was the word formed and before Sora could ask what the meaning of the word was, he suddenly awoke from his troubling dream. As he yawned, then took a look at the sky which said the following strange words:

**-Two Doors**

**-Oracle of Destiny**

**-Revenge of the Legion**

**-Perfect Trio Unite**

**-A Dangerous Journey**

**-Civil War Reborn**

**-Insidious One**

**-Loyalty vs. Betrayal**

**-Kairi's Wish**

**-Eternal Death**

Back in Ailiana, Pyros was at the very cliffside of Castle Ailiana and he scraped the earth with every step he took. Pyros said, "What selfish fools. They create works of art and I am ever so banished to an eternity in pain and sorrow. I shall make them pay and the Almighty One shall rue the day banished me from my rightful kingdom. He shall rue the day." Mickey on the other hand was resting in the Disney Castle in the main throne room when Donald soon burst in panicking and then Mickey calmly said, "Okay Donald. What's the matter?" Donald then replied, "There's a letter for you it was just laying on the floor outside the throne room and I thought I would deliver it to you since it has your name on it." Mickey took the letter and saw it had his two unique initials on it: M.M.

As Mickey opened the letter, both Donald and Mickey were surprised at the very details that the letter entailed. By the time they finished it, they had troubled faces and then left the room to find Chip and Dale and then board the Gummi Ship. All of these peoples' fates are ever so tied to one word with an unknown meaning, "Torpacilke". What on earth does it mean? Who is Pyros let alone Chris and the other guy that was with him? What does Victor coming back to life mean? What do all of those words Sora saw in the sky mean and what do they have to do with him? Is the dream that Sora had a clue to this mystery of Victor and the word "Torpacilke" itself? What was in the letter that Mickey and Donald had just read? (You can already take a guess just looking the word bullets) To find out the answers tune in next time for the sequel…

___Kingdom Hearts: The Eternal Beyond_

(Well that's going to do it for this story. I've a good time making it as much as reading it. I hope you guys got a good worth read out of this as well. For now though, I'm thinking of taking a break. I may do one chapter of the sequel or of the newest story I plan to make this Saturday, but I'll see how this week goes for me.) 


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